ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – While looking for a tiger cub in the Albuquerque metro area, federal investigators say they found a large drug ring. On Tuesday, one man faced a judge on both cases.

It was a case that took over the state: a tiger cub was found in a dog crate during a shooting investigation in January of last year. That came months after officers came up short when looking for a different tiger cub in 2022 in a home near Old Town. Both cases led officials to 40-year-old David Mendoza-Enriquez.

Mendoza-Enriquez was officially charged with conspiracy in connection with the tiger cub on Friday, but according to U.S Attorney Alexander Uballez, a recent operation also resulted in 15 people being charged related to federal drug trafficking, including Mendoza-Enriquez.

On Tuesday, he appeared in federal court for both charges. Documents say during the operation, authorities searched 13 homes, finding 102 pounds of meth, 46 pounds of cocaine, six pounds of heroin, 10,000 fentanyl pills, and around $124,000 in cash.

All 15 people are facing conspiracy to distribute those drugs between August 2020 and November 2023. Three people are facing additional charges for distributing drugs within a thousand feet of Wilson Middle School in southeast Albuquerque. Mendoza-Enriquez will stay behind bars until trial. The raids on the drugs also found 34 guns, eight of which were ghost guns that had no serial numbers.