WAYNE COUNTY, Mich. – Four men were arrested after allegedly trying to sell drugs and were caught with nearly 10 pounds of cocaine with them.
Gustavo Placencia Rosales, Jesus Manuel Quinones Gutierrez, Emanuel Rivera Santiago and Carlos Luis Ortiz are facing charges of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance and using or carrying firearms during and in relation to drug trafficking.
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According to court documents, the DEA has been investigating Gustavo Placencia Rosales for his alleged involvement in drug trafficking.
In February 2025, a confidential informant, who will be described in they/them pronouns to conceal their identity, told DEA agents that Placencia Rosales offered to introduce them to those who wanted to see five kilograms of cocaine.
On Feb. 14, 2025, the confidential informant met with multiple men, including Placencia Rosales, in a white Dodge Ram truck parked in the driveway of a home in Taylor.
During the meeting, the confidential informant said they were shown multiple kilograms of suspected cocaine in a black laundry-style bag. They said the brick-shaped packages had a picture of horror film characters, the Chucky doll and Jason Voorhees.
The confidential informant said they would charge them $18,000 per kilogram package. They told the subjects that they would meet them again the next morning to finalize the transaction.
During the morning of Feb. 15, 2025, DEA agents conducted fixed surveillance at the home in Taylor, where the confidential informant met Placencia Rosales.
At around 9:48 a.m., agents saw a black BMW X5 pull into the driveway of the home. Investigators looked up the car’s license plate and learned it belonged to Emanuel Rivera Santiago. Around the same time, the confidential informant received a call from Placencia Rosales confirming the subjects arrived at the house to finalize the transaction.
At around 9:54 a.m., agents saw Placencia Rosales leave the Taylor home and walk to the BMW on the driveway. About 10 minutes later, the confidential informant called Placencia Rosales and asked to video call them to confirm the drugs were there before they arrived for the meeting.
After the phone call, agents saw Placencia Rosales walk away from the car and go back inside the home. After about a minute, he walked back out of the home with a pink bag that appeared full. He then went into the BMW on the passenger side with the pink bag.
Shortly after, the confidential informant received a video call from Placencia Rosales, where he showed plastic-wrapped bricks near the pink bag. The confidential informant then asked Placencia Rosales to bring the drugs to a nearby Home Depot.
After the video call, agents saw the BMW pull out of the driveway and leave the area.
At around 10:18 a.m., law enforcement initiated a traffic stop of the BMW at the Home Depot’s parking lot and told everyone in the car to get out.
The driver of the BMW, Emanuel Rivera Santiago, told the officers before he was taken into custody that he had a handgun in the center console of the car. Officers found the gun and learned it was unloaded and registered in Santiago’s name.
Officers arrested a man in the front passenger seat, Jesus Manuel Quinones Gutierrez, and a third man in the rear passenger seat, Placencia Rosales.
A fourth man sitting in the rear seat on the driver’s side of the car, Carlos Luis Ortiz, was also arrested. Police found a gun on the waistband holder on his hip and learned it was registered in his name.
The confidential informant told agents all the men inside the car were the same people who met them the previous day regarding the drug sale.
U.S. Border Patrol K9 searched the BMW and alerted the presence of drugs in the pink bag located in the rear middle seat. Authorities searched the pink bag and found four brick-shaped packages with pictures of the horror characters Chucky Doll and Jason Voorhees containing what DEA agents said was a distribution-level quantity of suspected cocaine.
Officers weighed the packages, which contained 4,408.2 grams of suspected cocaine, which is equivalent to nearly 10 pounds.
Officers used a TruNarc testing device to test the substances in the packages, which tested positive for cocaine.
In a post-Miranda interview, Placencia Rosales admitted to authorities he did not have lawful immigration status and that he came to the United States from Mexico at age 11. Officials confirmed that Placencia Rosales had no immigration status in the United States.
The agents and officers investigating Placencia Rosales also learned that in May 2023 in Detroit, he allegedly sold one ounce of a white powdery substance that tested positive for fentanyl to a different informant from another federal agency.
