A busted taillight led to the seizure of more than 1,000 grams of fentanyl and a Marietta man’s arrest on drug trafficking charges, authorities said.

Cobb County police stopped 37-year-old Richard DeLaCruz about midnight Friday after an officer spotted his broken taillight near the intersection of Maxham and Old Alabama roads in Austell, according to his warrant.

DeLaCruz was arrested after officers searched his Ford pickup truck and located 1012.4 grams of the potent painkiller in the back of the vehicle, authorities said.

RELATED: What is fentanyl? 10 things to know about the potentially deadly drug

Fentanyl is regularly added to heroin and other drugs and sold to unsuspecting users, officials say. Some strains can be up to 50 times more powerful than morphine and lead to fatal overdoses, even in small amounts.

DeLaCruz also faces weapons charges after police executed a search warrant at an Austell home and located two handguns, according to his warrant.

He’s charged with trafficking illegal drugs, two counts of possessing a firearm during the commission of a felony, and a misdemeanor traffic violation for his broken taillight, jail records show.

DeLaCruz remains held at the Cobb County jail without bond.

In other news: 

The shooting happened early Wednesday morning at their northwest Atlanta home.

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Students in Jeremy Lowe's fourth grade class at Parkside Elementary read "warm-up plays" they wrote on Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025. Atlanta Public Schools saw significant improvement in fourth grade math and reading scores on the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress. (Miguel Martinez/ AJC)

Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez