ST. GEORGE – A Washington man was arrested for felony drug distribution Tuesday by the Washington County Drug Task Force.
St. George Police Lt. Mark Brklacich said Craig Hanlin, 43, of Washington had been pulled over on a traffic stop and was arrested. The vehicle Hanlin was driving was searched and an alleged “distributable amount” of methamphetamine was discovered along with drug paraphernalia, Brklacich said.
According to the probable cause statement, Detective Lynn Koester, the arresting officer, recognized and observed Hanlin at the Maverik gas station on Hilton Drive. Hanlin was recently arrested on drug-related charges by the Washington County Sheriff’s Office. He is also currently involved in a court case connected to the arrests and was on pretrial release.
Koester ran Hamlin’s information through dispatch and it was discovered his driver’s license was no longer valid. The detective followed Hanlin’s vehicle and pulled him over. Koester made contact with Hanlin who verified his identity and that his license was not current. Hanlin was then arrested and searched. According to Koester’s report, drug paraphernalia was located on Hanlin and had a smell of burnt marijuana on it, and that Hanlin had a pocket knife on him.
The car Hanlin was driving was a rental vehicle with three other occupants in it. The others were not detained and were advised they were free to leave. The rental company that owned the car was contacted and gave consent for task force detectives to search it. They found a plastic bag alleged to contain a distributable amount of methamphetamine. A search of the trunk produced backpacks containing possible drug paraphernalia and digital scales that had “a white crystal powder residue on them which is indicative of drug sales,” Koester wrote.
Hanlin was booked into the Purgatory Correctional Facility and has been charged with second-degree felony drug distribution and various drug-related misdemeanors. Bail has been set at $100,000.
Ed. Note: Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @MoriKessler
Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2013, all rights reserved.
Where as it is promising to many in the community to read about a small victory, it is somewhat offensive to me to see explicit pictures of a methamphetamine glass pipe containing actual methamphetamine/ residue gracing the cover of today’s St. George News. Think about it: for those who are recovering or healing from Methamphetamine abuse/addiction this is a blatant slap in their faces. Many who are recovering spend entire days, weeks and years, day after day, healing from an a lifestyle that wreaks havoc in the hearts and homes of many right here in OUR community. Images are powerful.
A little discretion and decorum would go a long way. Thanks.
Oh give me a freaking break here. Why don’t you take your little offended back side back to your mommy and cry to her. Grow up, get a set of balls and get a life.
To Evil Twin:
What a …headed thing to say. There is nothing wrong with saying “hey I am in recovery and don’t need to see the actual substance in a pipe on the front page.” I too am in recovery and this picture bothered me ALOT. Try not to be so insensitive. Better yet shut the hell up if you can’t be decent about something you clearly know nothing about.
Ed. ellipsis
Too bad there is no recovery from stupidity. If you were not stupid in the first place, you wouldn’t need to be in recovery. You aren’t going to change the world, so put on your big girl panties and deal with it.
Stop whining. If you can’t take the heat, get the h*ll out of the kitchen. If simply seeing an image sends someone back to doing drugs than they are NOT on the road to recovery. Furthermore, they will encounter images of drugs and alcohol for the rest of their lives. What are you suggesting, an issue of blinders for everyone in recovery?
Falling off subject here; let’s not forget this is A. News and B. Good News. It is the obligation of a news/reporting agency to make certain “News” is seen; while we can all understand your concern in seeing Drug Paraphernalia, and likewise understand your logic, censorship is not in party with reporting.
Again, those that don’t understand may not sympathize, but most not only feel sympathetic but also empathetic.
That being said, I’m certain I’ll hear a rebuttal, and I count that as positive. It means a picture has caused you to SPEAK about your life, those surrounding you, and the trauma therein; which is exactly what you need to do in the event of trauma, talk it out, don’t “think it in!”
Lastly, as far as the image; we can’t (rather, should not) avoid showing needles for a blood drive because a “mainliner” may feel recourse to relapse. If the image is too disturbing to you, it may be time to turn off the news for a bit.
A needle from a blood drive is completely different than a needle full of dope. These people DO have thier big boy pants on because they understand enough about themselves to know that seeing whatever the thing (does not mean only drugs) that they are trying to get away from and that it evokes such strong feelings and memories that are extremely hard to cope with and send a lot of people right back down a path a self destruction . My Evil Twin, these people are a thousand times more grown up than you are. You may not be doing drugs but you seem to be on a path to self destruct caused by pure anger and hatred. I know there is a reason for that but you dont seem to care enough to try to fix it. I honestly dont care whether you do or not. Some people are a lost cause unless there is a person in your life that is willing to walk down into your hell with you and not give up long to pull you out.These pictures of the actual drug in it DO need to be censored for another reason. I know drugs have been and always will be rampant but I do not think children should have to see these photos all over the place with the actual drug in it. This generation is being set up for failure by the generation before it. WE teach them all the good and bad but noone wants to take credit for the bad. A child only acts the way the parent lets them. I am not going to fight back in forth with anyone on this so dont expect a pissing match. If you dont understand, then thats your first clue that you have a long, long, long way to go before you will. I dont “think” these things are true. I “know” they are true. If you “think” something then you still dont understand it enough to have an educated opinion.
And you think Evil Twin is close minded. If you
Children, almost to a fault, do not do what “we” teach them to.
If this is not your opinion, but “truth” as you call, consider yourself a deity. Sanctimonious! I’ll piss all over your response, it doesn’t merit it, but I bet your conviction fails, and you piss back!
Geez Tom, it must be something else to be so almighty right and knowing. Not to mention full of uh “grease.”
Now then, if you will pardon me, I’ll go and “self destruct” some more. :p WHAT A DWEEBE!