ST. GEORGE — A window tint violation led to the arrest of a 21-year-old driver after Utah Highway Patrol troopers recovered a total of over 190 pounds of suspected methamphetamine, fentanyl and cocaine.
A trooper who was parked in the median of Interstate 15 near mile marker 63 observed a black passenger car heading north shortly after 8 a.m. Tuesday in Iron County.
As the car passed, the trooper noticed both windows were “significantly tinted” with visibility well below the legal limit allowed in “any other state,” according to documents filed in support of the arrest.
The trooper conducted a traffic stop on the vehicle, which pulled off the interstate near mile marker 65. The officer approached and measured the window tint at 17%, which was below the 35% as allowed under Utah law.
The driver, Jonathan Manuel Vargas, 21, told law enforcement the vehicle belonged to his girlfriend back in Las Vegas, Nevada, and when the officer became suspicious of possible further criminal activity, a K-9 was deployed to conduct a free-air sniff around the outside of the vehicle.
When the animal indicated to the possible presence of narcotics, the driver was asked why the dog would alert on the vehicle. The suspect said it was likely due to the THC vape pen he had inside the car.
The suspect explained he purchased the vape pen in California and said he did not have a medical marijuana card when questioned further by police.
Following the dog’s alert, officers found a duffle bag that contained several plastic Tupperware containers with suspected methamphetamine inside.
As the search continued in the trunk of the car, officers found two suitcases that contained several more packages of the same crystallized substance found in the duffle bag, along with five packages of blue pills imprinted with “M-30,” leading the trooper to suspect they contained fentanyl.
Vargas was placed under arrest and transported to the UHP field office in Cedar City, where the packages were weighed and tested. The more than 12 pounds of pills tested positive for fentanyl, while several of the packages tested positive for cocaine and weighed more than 7.5 pounds. The containers of suspected methamphetamine also tested positive for the drug and had a combined weight of 175 pounds.
In all, troopers recovered nearly 192 pounds of suspected narcotics during the traffic stop, or roughly 88.5 kilos bundled in multiple packages and containers.
According to a 2019 report released by the Drug Enforcement Administration, if broken down into street-level sales, 3 kilos of cocaine was valued at more than $420,000.
The more than 5 kilos of fentanyl pills recovered from the car were valued at more than $1.7 million, while the wholesale value of the methamphetamine came to more than $437,000. If broken down into grams for street-level sales, the value of the 88-kilos load jumps to more than $4.4 million.
Following the arrest Tuesday, Vargas was booked into the Iron County Jail and faces three second-degree felony counts of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, as well as two misdemeanors related to the vape pen.
The trooper also requested that Vargas be held without bail based on a number of factors, including that Vargas was reportedly transporting a large amount of narcotics through Utah, a state to which he has no ties, the trooper said.
Moreover, the suspect said he had trafficked narcotics before and estimated he had made 5-10 previous trips with drugs in the vehicle. The trooper also said Vargas also has ties to the Mexican Cartel and posed a substantial risk of fleeing the jurisdiction of the court.
The request was granted and the suspect remains in custody without bail. The charges were submitted to the Iron County Attorney’s Office for review, and the case is also being screened for federal prosecution.
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.
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