Staff Reports
A law enforcement operation between multiple parties in Gallup led to the seizure of a large quantity of suspected drugs and the arrest of two suspects on April 16.
Officers from the Gallup Police Department, McKinley County Sheriff’s Office, and the FBI Violent Gang Task Force executed a search warrant at a residence on South Sixth Street. Sheriff Deputy Dominic Molina, Sheriff Deputy Blake Carling, Agent Timothy Hughte, Federal Agent James Ridder, the McKinley County Sheriff Department Crisis Response Unit and Gallup Officer Lionel Desiderio carried out the search.
The report from Desiderio stated the team initially planned a “knock and announce” entry, but that changed when a male identified as David Salvatore Durante, 33, opened the door. Durante allegedly shut the door once he recognized the officers and attempted to barricade it, prompting the officers to force their way in.
Durante was taken into custody after officers entered the home. He was reportedly moving toward a bedroom in the northeast part of the residence. He was initially resistive toward the officers and did not cooperate with their questions.
Inside the premises, the officers also encountered a woman, who was identified as Pauline Marie Sandoval, 41, and a juvenile in another bedroom. Both were escorted out of the building as officers secured the residence.
During the search, the investigators reported finding a significant amount of suspected illegal drugs throughout the home. In one bathroom, officers reportedly located a container holding a bag of a crystal-like substance that field-tested positive for methamphetamine, weighing about 10 grams. The same container also held hundreds of blue pills marked “30/M,” which officers identified as fentanyl.
Additional items were discovered in a bedroom that reportedly belonged to Durante, including more suspected methamphetamine, cocaine, psilocybin mushrooms, ecstasy pills, drug paraphernalia, and thousands more fentanyl pills.
In total, officers reported seizing over 2,500 fentanyl pills, along with smaller quantities of other suspected narcotics.
Authorities used a narcotics detection dog, Olex, to conduct exterior sniffs of two vehicles linked to the suspects — a 2015 Ford Taurus and a 2003 GMC Sierra pickup. The dog’s search indicated the possible presence of drugs in both vehicles. The report stated the vehicles were towed and will be searched after additional warrants are obtained.
All seized substances were sent to a state laboratory for confirmation testing. No details were available at press time.
Durante and Sandoval were transported to the McKinley County Detention Center, where they were booked on multiple charges related to drug possession and trafficking along with abuse of a child and in Durante’s case, resisting arrest. Their preliminary examinations in Gallup Magistrate Court are both scheduled for April 29.
