Nevada Man Sentenced to 92 Months’ Imprisonment for Drug Trafficking in the District of Utah

ST. GEORGE, Utah - A Nevada man was sentenced to 92 months' imprisonment for drug crimes after law enforcement seized approximately 30,000 fentanyl pills during a traffic stop in southern Utah in 2023.

The sentence, imposed by U.S. District Court Judge Ann Marie McIff Allen, comes after Christopher Gerard Ruiz, 42, of Las Vegas, Nevada, pleaded guilty on March 31, 2025, to possession of fentanyl with intent to distribute. In addition to his term of imprisonment, Ruiz was sentenced to three years of supervised release. His codefendant, Rachel Marie Aponas, 34, of Las Vegas, was sentenced on May 14, 2025, to 28 months' imprisonment with credit for time served, and three years of supervised release.

According to court documents and statements made at Ruiz's sentencing and change of plea hearings, on October 26, 2023, a Utah Highway Patrol trooper made a traffic stop on I-15. Ruiz was the passenger, Aponas was the driver, and three children ages10 and under were in the backseat. Aponas admitted to law enforcement that methamphetamine was in the car. A search was conducted, and law enforcement located in the rear cargo area of the vehicle in a small lunch cooler, packages of blue M-30 pills, which they seized. The pills field-tested positive for fentanyl and weighed 2,700 grams (approximately 30,000 pills). Law enforcement also located and seized a methamphetamine pipe, methamphetamine, multiple cell phones, and a digital scale. An additional analysis by the Utah state crime lab identified the M-30 pills as fentanyl. Both Ruiz and Aponas were arrested, and the children were removed by DCFS.

"The safety of children is a top priority of my office and this administration. The fact that Ruiz and Aponas had three children in the vehicle with illicit drugs, specifically 30,000 fentanyl pills and methamphetamine within arm's reach is unimaginable," said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Melissa Holyoak of the District of Utah. "Anyone who jeopardizes the safety of children and our communities with poisonous drugs will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

The case was investigated by the Department of Public Safety, Utah Highway Patrol (DPS-UHP), and the Utah State Bureau of Investigation (SBI).

United States Attorney Joseph M. Hood of the District of Utah prosecuted the case.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.