ST. GEORGE — A New Harmony man is in jail after being arrested in Washington City during a traffic stop — the second arrest for the suspect by the same officer in less than three weeks.
On Thursday, an officer in Washington City stopped a vehicle traveling north on Interstate 15 near mile marker 16 after he observed the car swerving for several miles.
As he approached the car, the officer became suspicious when he noticed that the driver, later identified as 29-year-old Jacob Fry, of New Harmony, was making quick movements inside of the vehicle, according to the probable cause statement filed in support of the arrest.
While speaking to the driver, whom the officer was familiar with since he had encountered the suspect during a traffic stop the month before, two additional officers arrived to assist, along with a K-9 unit. When the animal, Zook, was deployed to conduct a sniff around the car, the dog indicated to the possible presence of narcotics.
The K-9 officer noted that Zook displayed “several alerts to a narcotics odor being present inside of the vehicle as well as the exterior,” the officer noted in the report.
When asked, the suspect admitted that he had a loaded syringe in his underwear, which was later recovered by police, along with a small plastic bag that contained what appeared to be heroin.
During a search of the vehicle, the officer popped the hood, which is when he located a red case with a zipper closure that was located in the air intake of the car affixed by a magnet that was glued onto the case. Inside of the bag was a “large sum of suspected heroin,” the officer stated, and when he asked Fry how much heroin was in the bag, the suspect allegedly said, “a s— ton,” which turned out to be an ounce that was purchased in Las Vegas. The suspect was on his way back to St. George when he was stopped by police.
The suspect was arrested and transported to Purgatory Correctional Facility where he was booked on second-degree felony drug possession and possession of paraphernalia, as well as the traffic citation.
Three weeks earlier, Fry was stopped on Coral Canyon Boulevard by the same officer for a vehicle violation.
During the traffic stop, the officer noticed a glass vile that was sitting between the driver’s legs that contained a brown powder-like substance, consistent with heroin. When he asked Fry to hand him the vile, the suspect attempted to hide it but eventually handed it over. The vile allegedly contained an unspecified amount of the drug, but it was enough to prompt the officer to arrest him for possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute.
During a search of the suspect, the officer “felt a large object inside of (the suspect’s) underwear,” which turned out to be a headphone case that contained “a s— ton of dope,” the suspect told police. As it turned out, the case allegedly contained seven plastic baggies of what appeared to be heroin, as well as one plastic bag of what allegedly turned out to be methamphetamine.
The suspect was transported to Purgatory Correctional Facility and was later charged with two second-degree felonies, including distribution of a controlled substance and possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance. He was also charged with misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance and paraphernalia charges. That case is still pending with the courts.
Relating to the arrest Thursday, the suspect remains in custody on $20,000 bail.
Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2020, all rights reserved.