MONTICELLO, Utah, Nov. 20, 2021 (Gephardt Daily) — A 23-year-old man was booked into jail Thursday after he was found to have what San Juan County Sheriff‘s officials believe to be more than 14 pounds of illegal drugs.
Eleazar Armenta-Garcia now faces charges of:
- Two counts of possession with intent to distribute a class C substances, a second-degree felony
- Use or possession of drug paraphernalia, a class B misdemeanor. He is being held without bail.
A San Juan County deputy was patrolling the area of 200 N. Main in Monticello when the deputy noticed a vehicle with a Utah plate traveling 46mph in a 30 mph area, the statement said. The traffic stop was made at 288 N. Main.
“I approached the vehicle from the driver side and made contact with driver. The name of the driver will remain confidential because it is a juvenile.”
Armenta-Garcia was a passenger in the vehicle, according to deputies.
“I could see that Eleazar was nervous to the point of shaking,” the officer’s statement says. “I was told by the driver that the vehicle was rented by a third party and he did not know for sure who it was. I then asked the driver where he was traveling from. He told me that they went to Phoenix from Denver yesterday and are now heading back Denver tonight.”
The officer looked through a window and noticed no personal luggage, but one large duffle bag in the cargo area. The officer called for backup.
One of the additional officers asked the driver why they had gone to Phoenix in what turned out to be a rental vehicle.
“The driver replied saying they went to pick some stuff up belonging to Eleazar,” the probable cause statement says. A records check showed Armenta-Garcia was “on pre-trial release for possession of 500-1,000 blue pills believed to be fentanyl and a crystal substance believed to be methamphetamine that occurred on 11/9/2021 out of Denver.”
A search warrant was granted, and the duffle bag was found to contain two bags with blue pills believed to be fentanyl “because they have the same marking, color, and size as other fentanyl pills seized in the area as recent as yesterday from a different unrelated case.”
The pills were found to weigh 4.8 pounds.
Also found in the duffle bag were nine vacuum sealed plastic bags that contained a crystal-like substance which was field tested and was positive for methamphetamine. Those bags weighed a total of 9.6 pounds, the officer’s statement says.
The combined weight of 14.4 pounds is slightly heavier than the average four-month-old baby girl or three-month-old baby boy (according to Parents magazine charts); or slightly less than the average weight of a bowling ball (according to The Measure of Things website).
“We placed Eleazar and the driver under arrest for possession of the illegal drugs,” the SJCSO officer’s statement says.
“Eleazar was transported to the San Juan County Jail where he was booked on above charges. Eleazar is currently on pre-trial release on a felony for possession of dangerous drugs in Denver.”
Armenta-Garcia is being held without bail.
