Chubbuck man charged after allegedly selling fentanyl to informant
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CHUBBUCK — A man police say sold fentanyl to a confidential informant on two separate occasions faces multiple felony drug charges.
Julian Dakota Castaneda, 32, is charged with two counts of delivering fentanyl, court records show.
Bannock County Sheriff’s deputies spoke with a confidential informant at the sheriff’s office on April 13, 2023, according to an affidavit of probable cause. The informant told the deputies they were able to buy drugs from Castaneda.
Deputies gave the informant $275 with which to buy fentanyl, then, with help from Pocatello and Chubbuck police officers, monitored the transaction.
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Following the transaction, the informant met with deputies at the sheriff’s office. There, the informant turned over 14 suspected fentanyl pills, which were sent to the Idaho State Police Forensics Lab for testing.
On April 15, 2023, a confidential informant allegedly bought another 10 suspected fentanyl pills from Castaneda while officers and deputies monitored. Police reports do not indicate whether this informant was the same who made the purchase two days before.
Those pills were also sent to the ISP lab.
Deputies noted in the affidavit that Castaneda mentioned to the informant that he was due to be sentenced — to probation, he believed — for a previous drug arrest.
Castaneda was sentenced to probation on misdemeanor charges for possession of a legacy drug and possession of drug paraphernalia stemming from a 2022 arrest.
He was arrested on April 3 for the fentanyl charges and is being held at the Bannock County Jail on a $25,000 bond.
Though Castaneda has been charged with these crimes, it does not necessarily mean he committed them. Everyone is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty.
If he is found guilty, Castaneda would face up to life in prison.
He is scheduled to appear in court Tuesday for a preliminary hearing before Magistrate Judge David Cousin.
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