Tests reveal crash driver hid fentanyl in body

By Breyana Segura - Chief Staff Writer | January 7, 2026

Sheriff issues alert for dangerous laced narcotics

Recent test results assisting law enforcement investigators in a narcotics case have revealed that a suspect was carrying potentially deadly drugs in his rectum.
A 29-year-old La Pryor man arrested after a car crash in early October had concealed 75 grams of narcotics inside his body, and some of those drugs contained fentanyl, according to a case report this week.
“We just received the lab reports and it is concerning that the narcotics contained fentanyl,” Frio County Sheriff Peter Salinas said this week. “I cannot stress the dangers of purchasing narcotics. Just one accidental puncture or leak could be fatal to the suspect, first responders, or medical personnel.”

According to a report on the case, emergency dispatchers first received a call around 9:30 p.m. on Tuesday, October 7, regarding a vehicle rollover along Hwy 57. A landowner had found Leonel Escalante attempting to walk away from the crash site.
Upon arrival, deputies learned Escalante was listed as wanted on an arrest warrant in Uvalde County.
During the roadside interview, Escalante allegedly told deputies he had been on his way home from San Antonio when he lost control of his vehicle, causing it to flip.
Officers searched Escalante and found several bags of narcotics, two unused needles in his shorts pockets and $2,000 in US currency. Deputies transported Escalante to the Frio County Jail where the wanted suspect was searched by jail staff during intake procedures. That search revealed a syringe with brown liquid and a bag containing a variety of narcotics. It was later determined that the man had hidden 25 grams of black tar heroin, 183 Xanax pills weighing 51 grams, a marijuana cigarette and a syringe inside his rectum.
Following protocol, investigators submitted the narcotics to the Texas Department of Public Safety crime laboratory in Laredo on October 21. Results published on December 31 revealed that the drugs had been laced with fentanyl.
Escalante originally faced a third-degree felony charge for possession of a controlled substance, three third-degree felonies for having prohibited substance in a correctional facility, and a first-degree felony for manufacture and delivery of a controlled substance.
Due to new fentanyl laws in Texas, Escalante’s charges are now enhanced to first-degree felonies.
Sheriff Salinas emphasized the dangers of drug smuggling, stating such tactics endanger both the individual and the community.
“This case underscores the lengths some will go to, to distribute narcotics,” the sheriff said. “We remain committed to stopping these activities. People think they are buying one thing, but they are actually ingesting a substance that could stop their breathing in seconds. This arrest is a horrifying reminder of how deadly the current drug supply has become.”
Fentanyl-related drug offenses are not new to Frio County. Pearsall native Elberto Roy Trevino Jr. was sentenced in February 2024 by a federal court judge to 24 years in prison after he was found guilty of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute fentanyl in July 2022. During the July 4 weekend of that year, law enforcement officers had found four people dead in a two-day span from a lethal batch of cocaine.
By October 2022, two more lives had been lost to fentanyl-laced drugs.