Man in jail after officers recover 44 pounds of illegal drugs during stop on I-15 – St George News

Composite image with background stock photo and overlay of Washington City Police vehicle taken in Washington City, Utah, May 11, 2021 | Photo by Cody Blowers, St George News

ST. GEORGE – Nearly $500,000 in illegal narcotics were seized during a traffic stop on Interstate 15 late Monday night. The stop was triggered by alleged tailgating and large objects hanging from the SUV’s rear-view mirror.

Officers in Washington City recover a large quantity of suspected narcotics during a traffic stop in Washington City, Utah, Aug. 29, 2022 | Photo courtesy of Jason Williams, St George News

An officer running criminal interdiction on I-15 near the Washington Parkway exit shortly before midnight noticed a black SUV heading north directly behind a white passenger car at an “unsafe distance,” according to the officer’s account that was incorporated into the probable cause statement filed in support of the arrest.

Washington City Police Chief Jason Williams told St. George News that interdiction operations often focus on intercepting shipments of narcotics hauled along the interstate, as well as watching for any type of criminal activity, which Williams said can include human trafficking, suspects wanted for violent crimes and other suspicious activity.

“So it goes beyond drugs,” Williams said. “Because it’s not only narcotics that are being trafficked along I-15.”

What led to the traffic stop Monday night involved several large items hanging from the rear-view mirror that caught the attention of the officer, including a COVID mask police say could potentially obstruct the driver’s view. That, in addition to the SUV reportedly tailgating a white passenger car, prompted the officer to stop the car just beyond Exit 12 in Washington City.

While speaking to the driver, identified as Adrian Joseph Alvarado, 43, of Ogden, the officer smelled burnt marijuana coming from inside the SUV. A K-9 team was dispatched to conduct a free-air sniff around the exterior of the vehicle.

When asked, the driver said there was no marijuana in the vehicle.

In the meantime, the officer ran a records check on the driver and while awaiting results, the deputy advised that the dog alerted to the possible presence of narcotics. Alvarado was asked to exit the SUV, and a search ensued, during which officers recovered several large duffel bags, along with a number of backpacks and boxes from the cargo area.

Inside one duffel bag was a large, vacuum-sealed bundle that contained several thousand small circular blue pills with markings consistent with fentanyl. In another duffel bag, they found a vacuum-sealed bag containing a white powdery substance that later field-tested positive for cocaine. The package weighed one pound.

Officers also recovered 19 pounds of suspected methamphetamine packaged in vacuum-sealed bags.

As the search continued, officers discovered several hundred individually packaged THC cartrii.etotal, like well like 24 large vacuum-sealed Bags containing suspected marijuana weighing one pound each. The cartridges were valued at more than $3,500 and the raw marijuana had a street value of nearly $49,000.

The pound of cocaine was valued at $24,000, and at street level sales the value is even higher. The half-pound of fentanyl pills have a value of more than $75,000, and the methamphetamine was worth more than $340,000, according to the US Department of Justice.

All told the drugs recovered by police had an approximate street value of more than $490,000.

Alvarado was then transported to Purgatory Correctional Facility and booked into jail facing three second-degree felony counts of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance and a third-degree felony count of the same charge. He remains in custody without bail.

This report is based on statements from court records, police or other responders and may not contain the full scope of findings. Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2022, all rights reserved.

Cody Blowers was raised in South San Francisco, California. A 2013 graduate from Colorado Technical University, Cody earned her bachelor’s degree in criminal justice with a minor in paralegal studies. Through the course of her academic studies she discovered that writing is her true passion, and she is committed to providing credible, integrated news coverage. Cody joined St George News in 2015, and when she’s not busy chasing the news, she can generally be found chasing her young granddaughter, Kali.