Police: Cotati man arrested after more than 800 suspected fentanyl pills found in vehicle

A Cotati man was arrested Wednesday morning after police identified him as a possible drug distributor and found hundreds of pills and other drugs in his vehicle, police said.

The Santa Rosa Police Department’s narcotics team began investigating a drug trafficking organization in April and later identified the suspect as someone helping to dispense narcotics and controlled substances in Santa Rosa and surrounding Sonoma County cities, the agency said in a press release Thursday.

Police located Roy Altamirano-Arenas, 29, at 10:43 a.m. Wednesday in a vehicle parked in a lot in the 200 block of Golf Course Drive in Rohnert Park. Police found a loaded .38-caliber handgun in his pant pocket.

Officers then found 1 ounce of suspected cocaine, 3 ounces of suspected meth and 800 counterfeit pills ― which are made to look like prescription drugs ― of suspected fentanyl in his vehicle. Digital scales and hundreds of clean plastic baggies matching those already containing the suspected drugs were also found, the release said.

Altamirano-Arenas was arrested on suspicion of four drug charges, including possessing and transporting an illegal narcotic for sale, and two gun charges, including having a gun while dealing drugs.

He was booked into the Sonoma County jail in lieu of $150,000 bail.

You can reach Staff Writer Madison Smalstig at madison.smalstig@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @madi.smals.