SPANISH FORK, Utah, July 5, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — A Utah County Sheriff‘s deputy that stopped a pickup truck for traffic violations on Interstate 15 near Spanish Fork and found something unexpected.
It was nearly 25 pounds of suspected fentanyl pills with a street value of more than $1.1 million.
Suspect Enrique Rivera Castro, 31 from Herriman, was stopped because his license plate light, attached by a wire, was dangling below the rear bumper of his Toyota Tacoma rather than illuminating its plate.
“I also observed it fail to maintain a consistent speed and fail to maintain a single travel lane on multiple occasions,” say Castro’s charging documents, filed by a deputy of the Utah County Sheriff’s Office.
“I activated my emergency lighting to conduct a traffic stop on the vehicle and the vehicle continued without yielding. I activated my emergency siren and the vehicle still continued to fail to yield. The vehicle continued to travel and eventually slowed and activated its hazard warning lights. After approximately 1.5 miles the vehicle finally stopped.”
Castro said he was a Mexican national and had lived in Utah for about two years, but had no Utah driver license. The deputy said he got Castro’s permission to look for insurance information, noticed large amounts of cash in the pickup, and signs of recent drug use in Castro. The deputy called for a drug-detecting K-9, which signaled positive for the presence of narcotics.
“During a subsequent search of the pickup, the deputy found 10 clear plastic packages filled with nearly 2.5 pounds each of small blue pills,” a UCSO news release says. “These pills are commonly known to be illegal fentanyl.”
Charging documents noted that “25 pounds of pills would equate to approximately 115,000 individual doses, far more than one user would ever possess. The estimated street value of 25 pounds is well over one million dollars.”
Asked if he had anything else illegal on his person, Castro said no.
“While being strip searched at the jail deputies found a plastic twist in Enrique’s underwear that contained a white powder. Based upon my training and experience the substance had the appearance of cocaine and field tested positive as such.”
Castro was booked into the Utah County Jail on suspicion of:
- Possession with intent to distribute a class C substance, a second-degree felony
- Possession of a controlled substance schedule I/II/analog, a third-degree felony
- Alter vehicle compartment for contraband, a class A misdemeanor
- Three infractions: No valid license, failure to operate in a single land and failure to operate in a single lane
Castro was ordered held without bail.
