United States of America v. hristopher Gerard Ruiz

Salt Lake City, Utah, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with drug trafficking.

On October 26, 2023, a Utah Highway Patrol trooper made a traffic stop on I-15. Christopher Gerard Ruiz, 42, of Las Vegas, Nevada, 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.

The Defendant was sentenced to 92 months’ imprisonment, followed by 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.