ST. GEORGE — A suspect was arrested during a traffic stop when officers became suspicious of his travel story and reportedly recovered blocks of suspected methamphetamine during the search of a pickup truck.
A Washington City police officer was conducting drug interdiction patrol Tuesday on I-15 near the St. George Boulevard exit facing northbound traffic when he noticed a white pickup truck with Colorado tags slow the vehicle to below the posted speed limit as the truck passed by.
The officer followed the truck as it reportedly crossed over the fog lines, veered into the adjacent lane and continued across the rumble strips. The officer activated the emergency lights and conducted a traffic stop near the Washington Parkway exit.
While speaking to the driver, 46-year-old John Thomas Vinson, the officer noticed a black handgun tucked between the front passenger seat and the center console. While advising the driver of the reason for the stop, Vinson reportedly said he was tired from driving and that his vehicle had been pulling to one side.
The officer told Vinson he was issuing him a written warning for the lane violations and asked the suspect to sit in his patrol vehicle while he wrote it up.
While making casual conversation, the report states, the officer became suspicious when he noticed several discrepancies in the suspect’s travel story and asked Vinson if he could search the vehicle, and he consented.
The officer recovered a second firearm, a black Ruger, from the glove compartment. The weapon was seized along with the Glock initially spotted near the center console.
While searching the front of the pickup, the officer peered over the seat and on the floorboard to the rear of the cab noticed two large elongated tube-shaped objects wrapped in brown packaging tape. The tube-like bundles had the feel of compressed powder, leading the officer to believe the packages contained “illegal narcotics,” the officer wrote.
The suspect was taken into custody and when confronted about the packages, Vinson reportedly told the officer the packages were not illegal narcotics but were sandbags he had placed behind the seat of the truck.
Shortly thereafter the suspect admitted the packages contained narcotics, and when backup arrived the bundles were cut open. Authorities then confirmed they contained a white crystal-like substance consistent with methamphetamine.
According to the report, the packages had a combined weight of roughly 40 pounds.
During questioning, the suspect said he lives in Colorado and was paid $3,000 to travel to California to pick up the packages and transport them back to Colorado. The suspect went on to say he had no idea what type of narcotics he was transporting, only that he knew it was not marijuana.
He also explained that both firearms belonged to him and that he keeps them in the truck for personal protection.
The suspect was booked into Purgatory Correctional Facility facing second-degree felony possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance as well as two counts of possession of a firearm by a restricted person, each a third-degree felony.
The charges were filed the following day and on Thursday, Vinson was released shortly before 10 p.m. on a promise to appear, as well as other pretrial conditions as set forth by the court.
This report is based on statements from court records, police or other responders 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.
Photo gallery
Colorado driver is arrested with 40 pounds of suspected methamphetamine wrapped in tape in the shape of elongated tubes found in cab of pickup truck on Interstate 15 near mile marker 8 in St. George, Utah, April 12, 2022 | Photo courtesy of the Washington City Police Department, St. George News Washington City Police recover 40 pounds of suspected methamphetamine wrapped in shape of elongated tubes during during traffic stop on Interstate 15 near mile marker 8 in St. George, Utah, April 12, 2022 | Photo courtesy of the Washington City Police Department, St. George News Washington City K-9 assist in recovery of 40 pounds of suspected methamphetamine during traffic stop on Interstate 15 near mile marker 8 in St. George, Utah, April 12, 2022 | Photo courtesy of the Washington City Police Department, St. George News 
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