ST. GEORGE, Utah, May 7, 2024 (Gephardt Daily) — A 27-year-old woman was jailed Saturday after an anonymous tip regarding drugs led St. George police to watch for her vehicle and to make a traffic stop when it came through the area.
The tip came to dispatch at about 5:09 p.m., and “advised that a white Nissan Quest was coming through the area in two to three hours,” says an affidavit filed for Jazmin Tentory-Ortega. Officers responded to Utah’s southern state line on Interstate 15, and spotted the described vehicle at about 7:53 p.m.
The car was stopped for alleged traffic and equipment violations. One officer talked to Tentora-Ortega while a second noted a duffle bag behind the front passenger seat, court documents say. A narcotics sniffer dog was brought in and indicated it detected drugs.
“Based on the K-9 indication, a vehicle search was completed and a large quantity of illegal narcotics was located,” court documents say. “I opened the bag and found ten plastic wrapped bags that all varied in size. The bags were heat sealed and there was a strong odor of gasoline coming from the bags. Based on my prior training and experience I knew this was a common tactic that drug smugglers use in order to try and prevent the dogs from being able to detect the illicit narcotic odor.
“I eventually cut into several of the bags and noticed that they were filled with small round pills that were stamped with ‘M’ on one side and ’30’ on the other. Based on my prior training and experience I suspected these pills to be counterfeit oxy’s that were intentionally made with fentanyl. These illicit pills have become extremely popular but they were extremely potent, which has caused a significant rise in drug related overdoses.
“The packages were eventually weighed and they came out to 24 pounds in weight. That was broken down into pill weight and there was an estimated 108,000 pills, and the estimated street value in Denver would be $1,620,000.”
Tentory-Ortega reportedly admitted picking up the package in California and driving toward Denver, the police statement says.
“Jazmin was ultimately placed under arrest and transported to Purgatory without incident.”
Her bail was set at $10,000, court documents say.
