Longtime Montezuma County Sheriff’s Office Detective Sgt. Victor Galarza was recently awarded the Outstanding Service Award from the Drug Enforcement Administration for his work as a member of the Montezuma-Cortez Narcotics Investigation Team.
Galarza will also be presented the Medal of Valor and his second Meritorious Service Award from the sheriff’s office in December.
“Today, I received recognition from the DEA and my counterpart, SA J. Scott, for outstanding service, which has been a true honor,” Galarza told The Journal. “Serving as a DEA task force officer for the past eight years has been a privilege and an incredible way to serve Montezuma County.”
Despite his love of the work he’s done in the county for the past 15 years, Galarza announced that he is leaving Cortez following the disbandment of the Montezuma-Cortez Narcotics Investigation Team due to cuts to the sheriff’s office’s budget.
“It’s been the greatest honor of my life to serve with Sheriff Nowlin, and for almost 15 years, serving the people of Montezuma County,” Galarza said. “However, with that said, due to the budget cuts … they've cut the legs right out from underneath it (MCNIT), and we could no longer afford to have the Montezuma-Cortez Narcotics Investigation Team.”
Galarza, who is also fluent in Spanish, has received one other Meritorious Service Award and three Distinguished Service Awards.
During his time on the task force, Galarza and his partners, first Cortez Police Department’s Detective Tom Quinnett and then Detective Trevor Robertson, worked on several record-setting investigations in collaboration with agencies such as the DEA, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Colorado Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Land Management and others.
2025’s Operation Wild Mustang, which started in October 2023 and ended summer 2025, is the largest county narcotics investigation to date. Fifteen people were charged or convicted, and 14,154 grams of methamphetamine, 4,083 counterfeit fentanyl pills, 525 grams of fentanyl powder and 71,406 grams of cocaine worth more than $11 million were seized, along with $13,326 and 11 firearms.
Following Operation Wild Mustang, Cortez Police Chief Vernon Knuckles nominated the team for Colorado Drug Investigators Association’s 2025 Drug Task Force of the Year.
Operation Hot Summer Nights shut down a drug trafficking operation in Cortez in 2024, with eight people convicted and sentenced. Meth and fentanyl were the drugs seized in that operation.
The most recent operation made public came to its conclusion in May after a six-month investigation that led to the seizure of meth and fentanyl with an estimated street value of $1.4 million.
Just last year alone, MCNIT seized drugs worth more than $13.3 million. In the report, 88 pounds of meth, 168 pounds of cocaine, 23,370 counterfeit fentanyl pills, and nearly 10 ounces of fentanyl powder were seized.
These numbers marked a sharp increase from 2024, with a 1,874% jump in fentanyl powder. In 2024, only 2.5 grams of cocaine powder was seized, but 76,298 grams (168 pounds) was seized in 2025.
Galarza also recounted personally suffering a fentanyl overdose during evidence collection during one operation, requiring doses of Narcan and hospital treatment.
He has often called Cortez a “hub” for drugs, with more than nine drug organizations operating in the county. Many if not all of those organizations have connections to the Mexican drug cartels, he said.
He even spoke on the subject of cartels on a recent episode of the DINESH Podcast with Dinesh D’Souza. The episode is titled “Inside the Cartels.” Along with being part of drug bust operations, Galarza has helped train various law enforcement agencies across the U.S. and Canada.
Despite MCNIT’s successes, the sheriff’s office was forced to end the team following a series of cuts to their budget, which has reportedly been cut incrementally by the Montezuma County Commissioners over the past few years.
“We're not going to be able to do the large importation cases that he (Galarza) and the Cortez PD detective have done over the years,” Sheriff Steve Nowlin said. “My resources have been cut by the commissioners, and it's just the way that it is. I can't provide the public safety that we once did, which is really sad.”
The cuts have also caused other deputies to leave for other agencies.
“I'm losing certified deputies, good people to other agencies on a regular basis. I just lost a patrol sergeant to the Telluride Marshall's office, I lost a couple officers to the Cortez Police Department and to the Mancos Marshall's office, just because they pay better and have better benefits,” Nowlin said.
The Cortez police detective formerly working with Galarza in MCNIT will now join the Southwest Drug Task Force based in Durango, which will serve both La Plata and Montezuma counties, Galarza said.
“The job of government is to provide safety and security for its people,” Galarza said. “I can tell you, as a law enforcement officer in Montezuma County, we don't have the ability to do that at this point. They have cut our legs right from underneath us.”
He said experienced deputies are leaving the sheriff’s office just like him because of the budget cuts.
“The best career I've ever had was being a narcotics officer here in Cortez, but now I can't do that. The only reason I stayed is because of the love of the job. Now, well, there's no job,” he said.
The sheriff’s office attempted to supplement some of their lost funds through Ballot Issue 1A, collective bargaining, in 2024, but the issue was struck down by county voters with a 55.9% “no” vote. Beginning in 2025, the issue would have increased taxes by an estimated $8,123,002, followed by a 1% raise in retail sales taxes – and excluding farm and property taxes – to better fund the sheriff’s office, Montezuma County Detention Center and MCNIT.
“We're still continuing to do the best that we can with what we have, and always will, as long as I'm the sheriff … until January,” Nowlin said.
A new sheriff will be elected in November.
bduran@the-journal.com
