Police: $750K in fentanyl found after speeding driver pulled over in St. George

2019 file photo for illustrative purposes only of St. George Police responding to an incident in St. George, Utah, April 10 | File photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — A minivan reportedly speeding along Interstate 15 near the Utah-Arizona border over the weekend led to a traffic stop that netted more than 30,000 suspected fentanyl pills.

2019 stock image for illustrative purposes only of Interstate 15 in Washington County, Utah, Jan. 3, 2019 | St. George News

Shortly before 11 p.m. on Saturday, a St. George Police officer was parked in the median surveying northbound traffic along Interstate 15 near the Utah-Arizona border, when a black minivan reportedly headed into Utah at 85 mph, 10 miles over the posted speed limit.

As the minivan passed by, the officer also noticed that the driver had his hands locked in the 10-2 position on the steering wheel and “immediately turned his head away from me when he saw me,” according to the probable cause statement filed in support of the arrest.

The driver appeared to decelerate rapidly, police say, and had slowed to below the posted speed limit after the officer pulled into traffic and started to follow it.

According to the report, when the minivan crossed over the median three separate times, the officer suspected the driver was looking behind them to see if the officer was following them. Minutes after entering Utah, the minivan was stopped for the alleged lane violation, and while speaking to the driver, the officer noted the strong odor of burnt marijuana coming from inside of the vehicle.

While explaining the reason for the stop, the driver appeared nervous and said he was changing stations on the radio when the alleged traffic violations were committed. The driver was then asked to accompany the officer to the patrol vehicle while a written warning was prepared.

Suspicions were raised when the driver made several comments that appeared “suspicious and abnormal,” which authorities say led them to believe the occupants were possibly involved in the trafficking of some type of illegal contraband.

When asked, the driver reportedly said the car likely smelled of marijuana because the couple had smoked the substance while in Las Vegas, and when the driver was advised the vehicle would be searched, he reportedly told officers there was nothing illegal in the minivan.

When the passenger, identified as 31-year-old Liliana Velezquez of Winnetka, California, was asked to step out of the vehicle, she told officers there was marijuana in the center console and was “very quick” to hand it over to officers.

During the search, officers grabbed a pillow off the backseat of the minivan that was heavier and appeared suspicious.

The officer could feel several stiff packages at the bottom of the actual pillow that turned out to be three small packages wrapped in clear plastic wrap. When squeezing the packages, the officer determined they contained pills that were wrapped and placed in the pillowcase.

Moreover, authorities suspected the tablets were likely “fentanyl-laced pills which were commonly referred to as ‘fettys,’” as noted in the report.

When the packages were cut open, officers found small blue pills with markings consistent with fentanyl. Following this discovery, the Washington County Drug Task Force was dispatched to the scene to assist in the investigation and in interviewing the suspects.

Police say Velazquez told drug agents that she was paid $4,000 to drive to Colorado, adding she did not know the exact nature of what was in the packages and that the driver “had no idea what was going on” and took full accountability for the packages recovered by police.

St. George Police Department seizes more than 30,000 suspected fentanyl pills during traffic stop on northbound Interstate 15 near the Utah-Arizona border in St. George, Utah, Sept. 11, 2022 | Photo courtesy of the St. George Police Department, St. George News

According to the report, Velazquez also said the packages were picked up in California, and she was expected to travel nonstop to Colorado to drop them off and then be back in California by Monday.

The packages had a combined weight of more than 7 pounds, and detectives estimated there were roughly 30,000 pills in total.

When broken down into street-level sales, the pills were valued at more than $750,000, the report states.

Velazquez was transported to Purgatory Correctional Facility and booked into jail facing second-degree felony possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance and a misdemeanor charge for possession of marijuana.

This is just one of several seizures of fentanyl reported in recent months.

A traffic stop on Aug. 3, resulted in the recovery of more than 3,000 suspected fentanyl pills valued at more than $75,000,

In July, the Utah Highway Patrol recovered more than 12 pounds of fentanyl pills during a traffic stop on I-15 that had a street value of more than $1.7 million.

In June, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office recovered more than 18 pounds of fentanyl worth approximately $1.6 million, as part of a $2 million seizure on June 20 along I-15.  Another 9,000 fentanyl pills were recovered during a traffic stop in Iron County that were valued at more than $250,00.

Following the traffic stop Saturday, the suspect was formally charged with the felony distribution charge and she remains in custody without bail. The driver was not charged in the incident.

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.

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

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