ST. GEORGE, Utah, June 8, 2024 (Gephardt Daily) — Police say a 52-year-old woman stopped for a traffic violation was later booked into jail after officers found illegal drugs and multiple items used for counterfeiting in her vehicle.
Nicole Antionette Lecou was arrested Wednesday following a traffic stop for making an illegal turn from Bluff Street to Main Street, according to a probable cause statement filed in St. George’s 5th District Court.
A St. George police officer caught up with the vehicle after it stopped in a parking lot, where Lecou provided an expired California ID, the affidavit says. The vehicle’s registration also had expired in 2017, police said.
A K-9 unit was called to assist and provided its handler “a positive indication for the odor of illegal narcotics coming from the car,” arrest documents say.
A search of the car uncovered a bag containing a piece of tin foil with a brown tar-like substance suspected to be black tar heroin, the affidavit says. Officers also found a straw smoking device with what appeared to be heroin residue, according to arrest documents.
Another bag in the vehicle contained “syringes with suspected heroin residue, a rubber container with several grams of suspected black tar heroin and other tooter straw smoking style devices consistent with heroin use,” the affidavit says.
Officers also uncovered “many items consistent with counterfeiting,” including nine “$100 bills in [Lecou’s] wallet that were obviously counterfeit,” according to arrest documents.
Police also found “printers, computers, templates, currency that had been ‘washed’ to be used for making larger denomination bills, chemical agents consistent with the kind used in the manufacture of counterfeit bills, and other electronic and mechanical devices consistent with the production of counterfeit money,” the affidavit says.
Police say Lecou later admitted to using the counterfeiting devices, equipment and chemicals to pass counterfeit bills while in Mesquite, Nevada.
She had reserved a room at a St. George motel and “was believed to be here specifically to commit counterfeiting related crimes,” the affidavit says.
Locou was arrested for investigation of:
- 13 counts of possession of forged writing or device, a third-degree felony
- Two counts of possession of a controlled substance, a third-degree felony
- Use of possession of drug paraphernalia, a class B misdemeanor
- Driving on an expired license, a class B misdemeanor
Police say Lecou ultimately may face 244 separate felony charges for counterfeiting.
Her criminal history includes “multiple convictions of dangerous drugs in recent years,” the affidavit says.
