CEDAR CITY, Utah, March 14, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — Utah Highway Patrol officers who stopped an SUV that was not insured discovered it was transporting about 10 pounds of narcotics.
The arresting trooper was parked in the Interstate 15 median near mile marker 63 on Sunday, he wrote in arrest documents.
“I observed a black SUV traveling in the left lane northbound,” the statement says. “The subject vehicle passed my position, slowed down significantly, and changed into the right lane for no apparent reason. I ran a check of the vehicle and it returned with no insurance on file, so I conducted a traffic stop.”
The driver stopped was 23-year-old Diego Alberto Vazquez Garcia.
“During the course of my traffic stop, I became suspicious of further criminal activity and asked for consent to search the vehicle, which was granted,” the trooper’s statement says. “During a search we located eight packages of suspected narcotics hidden inside a natural void of the vehicle. Diego was placed under arrest and transported to the Cedar City UHP office for processing.
“At the UHP office, the packages were discovered to be fentanyl pills wrapped with mustard and had a combined weight of approximately 10 pounds. Diego was booked into Iron County Jail on his charges. Diego admitted to knowing about the narcotics and being paid $2,000 to transport them to Salt Lake City.”
Garcia was booked on suspicion of:
- Possession with intent to distribute C/substance, a second-degree felony
- Operating a vehicle without insurance, a class C misdemeanor
- Obstruct reducing visibility windshield, an infraction
- No valid license, never obtained, an infraction
He was ordered held without bail.
