ST. GEORGE — Nearly half a million dollars of suspected fentanyl pills were seized during a late-night traffic stop on northbound Interstate 15 Thursday, thanks to a K-9 and an alert officer.
A Washington County Sheriff’s deputy stopped a silver Jeep shortly after midnight on northbound Interstate 15 near mile marker 23, just north of the Main Street exit in Leeds, for an alleged window tint violation, according to charging documents filed with the courts.
While speaking to the driver, Kyle Kenneth Smith, 31, of Indianapolis, Indiana, officers learned the vehicle was a rental and the suspect told officers he had the rental agreement saved on his cell phone.
A K-9 team was dispatched and alerted authorities to the possible presence of narcotics near the rear driver’s side quarter panel of the vehicle.
Following the animal’s alert, the driver and his front-seat passenger, Solomon Isaim Allen, 33, of Chino Hills, California, were told to exit the Jeep and both were detained while a search of the Jeep ensued.
During the search, officers noticed that the plastic molding near the rear lift gate appeared to have been “tampered with – as if it had been recently removed,” the officer noted in the report.
The entire panel fell as soon as the officer pushed a finger into the gap of the molding, which reportedly exposed six large vacuum-sealed bags containing light blue pills consistent with fentanyl and packaged in smaller vacuum-sealed bags.
Officers seized approximately 30,000 pills with a combined weight of more than 7.5 pounds.
Based on the number of suspected fentanyl pills, and the way in which they were packaged, officers believe the amount of suspected narcotics was “far beyond what a personal use amount would be” and was consistent with illegal distribution.
According to the DEA, the amount of fentanyl seized, if broken down into street-level sales, had an estimated value of more than $487,500. Moreover, the combined weight of the seizure totaled more than 3 kilograms of suspected fentanyl pills, which the DEA states is enough to kill nearly 1.8 million people.
A message on the Washington County Sherriff’s Office Facebook page stated that “Cyrus”, the K-9 that alerted officers to the scent of possible narcotics, was at it again during the traffic stop, and thanks to the animal’s efforts, the recovery of illegal narcotics “was an amazing find.”
Following the stop on I-15, officers spoke to the driver who told officers he did not use any drugs, adding he “does not even smoke weed,” the officer wrote. He then declined to answer any other questions at the scene.
The passenger, Allen, declined to answer any questions and both were arrested and transported to Purgatory Correctional Facility facing second-degree felony possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance.
District Judge Keith C. Barnes signed a no-bail hold for each of the suspects and both remain 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.
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