A Mableton man was arraigned in federal court in Atlanta on Friday, November 13, on drug-trafficking charges after federal agents found nearly 60 pounds of fentanyl hidden in a backyard shed in Austell, in Cobb County, Georgia, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia announced.
Source: DEA, Nov 13 2026
Michael Antonio Cruz, 32, of Mableton, appeared in court on an indictment returned by a federal grand jury on November 3, 2026. He was ordered detained in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service pending further proceedings, prosecutors said.
Source: U.S. Attorney, Northern District of Georgia (DOJ), Nov 13 2026
What agents say they found on September 30
According to U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg, on September 30, 2026, federal agents conducting a narcotics investigation executed search warrants at three residences allegedly owned by Cruz. In Austell, agents searched a backyard shed and found nearly 60 pounds of fentanyl shaped into 26 individually wrapped bricks, each with stamped markings on its sides.
At a residence in Mableton, agents said they found multiple scales, buckets of a cutting agent commonly used with methamphetamine and cocaine, plastic bins containing methamphetamine residue, and vacuum-sealing machines and packaging. Agents also found a false vent that opened into a void in a wall, where they discovered more than $74,000 in cash.
The charges
The indictment charges Cruz with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine and fentanyl, and with possession with intent to distribute fentanyl. Assistant United States Attorney Edward C. Robinson Jr. is prosecuting the case.
The U.S. Attorney's Office reminded the public that an indictment only contains charges. Cruz is presumed innocent, and it will be the government's burden to prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.
What officials said
“Fentanyl continues to devastate families and communities across this country,” said Michael J. Connolly, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Atlanta Field Division. “The alleged trafficking of 60 pounds of this deadly substance underscores the magnitude of the threat we face.”
“The staggering quantity of fentanyl Cruz allegedly possessed posed a critical threat to public health and safety. But for the intervention of law enforcement, the fentanyl could have reached the streets and had potentially fatal consequences,” U.S. Attorney Hertzberg said.
How the case was built
The case is being investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, with assistance from the Cobb County Police Department, the Cobb County Sheriff's Office and Homeland Security Investigations. It is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide Justice Department initiative that marshals federal resources against cartels and transnational criminal organisations and violent crime, according to the agencies.
Why it matters in metro Atlanta
Mableton and Austell sit in Cobb County, just west of Atlanta — a fast-growing suburban corridor where many immigrant families, including Punjabi families who work across metro Atlanta and in trucking and logistics along the region's interstate network, live and work. Federal officials framed the seizure in the starkest terms: a quantity of fentanyl they say was large enough, had it been distributed, to have had potentially fatal consequences in the community. No overdose or distribution incident in Cobb County was linked to Cruz in Friday's announcements, and the agencies did not say where the fentanyl was allegedly destined.
What happens next
Cruz remains detained under the U.S. Marshals Service pending further proceedings in federal court. No trial date was announced on Friday. At trial, prosecutors will have to prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt; Cruz is presumed innocent unless and until that happens.