CEDAR CITY, Utah, May 20, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — A Cedar City-based Utah Highway Patrol trooper stopped an SUV for dark window tint and slow driving, and ended up taking two California suspects into custody on a multiple drug charges.
The trooper stopped the driver, 34-year-old Reymundo Lizarraga, and passenger, 18-year-old Angely Figueroa Favela, on Thursday after noticing the SUV speed dropped even more after passing the officer, on Interstate 15. The officer stopped the car near northbound mile marker 66.
A records check showed the vehicle was uninsured.
“Reymundo told me that the vehicle was his, but was registered to a friend and he did not have any insurance information,” the trooper wrote in probable cause statements.
“During the course of my traffic stop, I became suspicious of further criminal activity and requested a K-9 sniff of the vehicle.”
Iron County Sheriff K-9 Vojak was brought in for a free air sniff, and indicated drugs were detected.
“In both rear quarter panels of the vehicle, we located multiple duct taped packages of narcotics hidden in a natural void,” the officer’s statement says.
“In total we found approximately five pounds of methamphetamine, one pound of Xanax pills, one and a half pounds of cocaine, over one pound of heroin, one kilogram of blue M-30 fentanyl pills, and twelve grams of an unknown blue substance. All of the packages were vacuum-sealed and wrapped in duct tape. Also located was a small baggie of suspected cocaine behind the driver’s seat on the floor.”
“The front window tint of the vehicle was measured at 16%, illegal in both California and Utah. Insurance was never located for the vehicle.”
Lizarraga and Favela were each charged with five counts of possession with intent to distribute a C/substances, a second-degree felony.
Lizarraga faces additional charges of possession of a controlled substances schedule I/II/analog, a class A misdemeanor; operating a vehicle without insurance, a class C misdemeanor; and window tint violation, an infraction.
Both suspects were ordered to be held without bail in the Iron County Jail.
