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The Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office has arrested Luis Funez, 23, for the second time in a week.
The first time, on Dec. 8, sheriff’s deputies caught Funez in an Airbnb rental with 52 pounds of fentanyl, the equivalent of 11 million doses. An affidavit filed by prosecutors later that day said he’s the suspected leader of a Portland-area drug trafficking ring.
But for reasons that remain unclear, deputies didn’t book him in jail on new charges. They instead booked him on an outstanding warrant for failing to appear in court after he was caught dealing fentanyl in downtown Portland earlier this year.
Under court pretrial detention guidelines, that wasn’t enough to hold him in jail overnight while he waited to see a judge. County officials let him go hours later, and he failed to appear in court the next morning. A warrant was again put out for his arrest.
The result was the latest high-profile snafu for the Multnomah County court system, and has drawn statewide scrutiny on the detention guidelines lawmakers passed in 2021 to make the system more fair.
This afternoon, sheriff’s deputies with the same unit—the Dangerous Drug Team—caught Funez during a Gresham traffic stop with the help of the Portland Police Bureau. He was booked in jail at 6:45 pm.
This time, the U.S. Marshals Service, the enforcement arm of the federal court system, is ordering Funez held in jail, presumably until new charges are filed. It remains unclear why this wasn’t done last week. MCSO did not immediately respond to a request for comment.