The federal drug smuggling case against Joanna Segovia, the “grandmother” of the San Jose police union, has taken a stunning turn.
A criminal complaint against Segovia last year charged her with one count of attempting to smuggle fentanyl into the Bay Area. But at a Thursday hearing – in a case drawn out by repeat delays – lead federal prosecutor Joseph Tartakovsky said subsequent tests on a package they intercepted and initially found to have tested for fentanyl were incorrect.
“The government has concluded that the test was an error,” Tartakovsky said at the hearing.
The development Thursday means the charge against Segovia changes from attempting to smuggle fentanyl to attempting to smuggle Tapentadol, another highly addictive painkiller. Segovia’s attorney, Adam Gasner, couldn’t say how this affects the severity of the outcome for Segovia if found guilty but the change from fentanyl to Tapentadol is a “mitigating factor.”
She entered a non-guilty plea on Thursday in response to the revised charge, but her attorney said the plea could change. Another hearing has been set for Oct. 8 to be presided over by Judge Eumi K. Lee.