GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A traffic stop involving a Porche in southern Michigan led police to a Grand Rapids storage unit where nearly two pounds of illegal fentanyl pills were found, and now the man renting the unit is heading to prison.
A federal judge this week sentenced 52-year-old Rene Arnold Ruiz to 16 years in prison. It is not unfamiliar territory; Ruiz has been to prison several times for drug-related crimes.
Federal prosecutors say the fentanyl pills seized from the storage unit on 28th Street SE were designed to look like prescription Oxycodone.
“The defendant was caught with over 8,500 fentanyl pills,” federal prosecutors said. “The defendant distributed drugs he kept in a storage unit.”
Ruiz had been on police radar prior to the May, 2024 traffic stop on I-69 in Branch County, court records show.
During the traffic stop, police found a fake water bottle with a hidden compartment containing 101 fentanyl pills and 7 grams of cocaine, court records show.
Police next headed to a Kent County storage unit Ruiz was renting and seized more than 8,500 fentanyl pills which matched those found in his Porsche, court records show.
The storage unit also contained nearly a pound of heroin, records show. The drugs were found inside locked suitcases.
A search of his home turned up drug packaging materials, including a vacuum sealer, duct tape, parchment paper, sandwich bags and digital scales, court records show.
Ruiz was indicted last summer and pleaded guilty in January to possession with intent to distribute fentanyl. He had been facing a maximum of 20 years in prison.
In a sentencing memorandum, the defendant’s attorney said Ruiz “experienced violence on an unimaginable scale” in El Salvador before coming to the U.S. in 1987.
“Mr. Ruiz has struggled with addiction his entire life, and it has contributed to his poor decision making,” defense attorney Samuel Roddy wrote in a sentencing memorandum.
“At the time of this offense, he was also struggling with heroin and abusing prescription-strength painkillers,” Roddy wrote. “Mr. Ruiz recognizes that his continued dependency on drugs led him to continuous interactions with negative influences.”
Once he completes his federal prison sentence, Ruiz will serve five years on supervised release.
