SPRINGVILLE, Utah, Oct. 15, 2018 (Gephardt Daily) — Two suspects were arrested in Springville on Saturday evening after officials said they found 10.4 pounds of heroin with a street value of $474,000 in their trunk of their vehicle.
The driver of the vehicle, Jorge Alberto Ibanez-Melendrez, 36, from West Jordan, was charged with second-degree felony possession of a controlled substance, class B misdemeanor driving with a measurable amount of a controlled substance and the infractions of failure to operate within a single lane and failure to signal for two seconds.
The passenger in the car, Abigail Castillo, 26, also from West Jordan, was charged with possession of a controlled substance.
A probable cause statement from the Utah County Sheriff’s Office said a deputy saw a white Volkswagen Jetta with Utah license plates crossing over the fog line several times and failing to use a turn signal for two seconds before changing lanes on northbound Interstate 15 just after 8:15 p.m.
The deputy initiated a traffic stop near mile marker 259, north of 2700 North in Springville, and told the driver, later identified as Ibanez-Melendrez, that he believed the driver was intoxicated. Another deputy assisted as Ibanez-Melendrez primarily speaks Spanish, the probable cause statement said.
While officers performed field sobriety tests on Ibanez-Melendrez, a Spanish Fork police officer and a K-9 walked around the vehicle. The K-9 indicated there was probable cause to search the vehicle, the statement said.
A search of the vehicle turned up a large amount of a brown substance, which was later identified as heroin. The 10.4 pounds that was found has a street value of $474,000, the probable cause statement said.
The driver and passenger were transferred to Utah County Jail and Ibanez-Melendrez agreed to speak with officers after being read his Miranda rights. The probable cause statement said Ibanez-Melendrez told officials he had no knowledge there was heroin in the trunk of his car. He said he was approached by a man named Jose in Mesquite, Nevada, who asked him to deliver car parts to Utah for $200. Officers asked him where the $200 was and he said he spent it in Las Vegas. He also elaborated that Jose had Ibanez-Melendrez’ cellphone number and was going to call him with the delivery location.
Ibanez-Melendrez also told officials that Castillo had no knowledge of the heroin, the statement said. She corroborated that when she was interviewed, saying that the two were friends and he asked her to go on a trip with him.
Ibanez-Melendrez is also under an ICE hold because he may not be a U.S. citizen, the statement said.
Gephardt Daily will have more on this developing story as information is made available.
