Driver arrested after 15 pounds of cocaine found in trunk during I-15 traffic stop north of Cedar City

Utah Highway Patrol vehicle, Cedar City, Utah, Jan. 8, 2022 | File photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

CEDAR CITY — A driver who was pulled over for allegedly following another vehicle too closely and making an unsafe lane change on Interstate 15 was subsequently arrested after officers found more than 15 pounds of cocaine inside the car.

Janely Yvette Lopez, 22, was booked into Iron County Jail early Sunday morning, a few hours after she was stopped by a Utah Highway Patrol trooper on northbound I-15 north of Cedar City just after 12:30 a.m. 

According to a probable cause statement filed in support of Lopez’s arrest, the arresting trooper watched her vehicle first follow a semitractor-trailer closely before making an abrupt lane change in front of an SUV in the left lane. The subject vehicle then changed lanes again, cutting off the semi and causing its driver to hit the brakes, the trooper wrote in the affidavit.

After getting the driver to pull over onto the northbound onramp at Exit 71, the trooper began questioning the driver, identified as Lopez in the affidavit. The vehicle was a rental car, according to the statement.

“During the course of my traffic stop I became suspicious of further criminal activity, so deployed my police service dog Leo for a free air sniff of the vehicle,” the trooper wrote. “Leo gave a positive indication to the odor of narcotics coming from inside the vehicle.”

At that point, the driver allegedly admitted that she had THC vapes inside the vehicle and did not possess a valid medical marijuana card.

Then, during a subsequent search of the vehicle’s trunk, the trooper located a sealed dog food container. 

“Once the seal was broken, I located seven packages of narcotics hidden inside the container,” he wrote, adding that each of the 1-kilogram packages contained a white powdery substance; one of the packages was cut open and the substance tested positive for cocaine, according to the charging document. 

Iron County Jail, Cedar City, Utah, Nov. 24, 2021 | File photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

Lopez, who is currently being held without bail in Iron County Jail, faces charges of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, a second degree felony, drug possession, a class B misdemeanor, and two traffic infractions: failure to stay in one lane and following another vehicle too closely. Her initial court appearance is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon before 5th District Judge Ann Marie McIff Allen.

This report is based on statements from court documents and law enforcement officials and may not contain the full scope of findings. Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2022, all rights reserved.

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