Tipped off by cluster of air fresheners, officers find $76,000 in suspected heroin on I-15

Composite image with background stock photo by Atom1Productions/iSTock/Getty Images Plus; overlay stock photo by Cody Blowers | St. George News

ST. GEORGE — A passenger car tailgating another vehicle while heading north on Interstate 15  caught the attention of an officer who reportedly found a kilo of suspected heroin during a search of the car.

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

An officer noticed a gray passenger car on I-15 near mile marker 12 on Aug. 7, reportedly following too closely behind another vehicle in the fast lane, according to charging documents filed with the court.

The officer who pulled onto the interstate and got behind the car noticed several air fresheners hanging from the rear-view mirror, as well as a number of other objects purportedly obstructing the driver’s view.

The officer activated the emergency lights on their patrol vehicle to conduct a traffic stop, and the passenger car pulled over near Exit 13 in Washington City.

The officer approached and noted there were two occupants inside the vehicle – the driver, Noe Caliz Nunez, 25, and passenger Elvin Antonio Rodriguez, 23. Both were identified by their passports issued out of Honduras. The men also told the officer they did not speak any English.

The officer noted a strong odor of marijuana coming from the car and then observed a blue dispensary bag on the backseat.

They were asked to exit the vehicle, and during a search of the car, the officer recovered the dispensary bag containing a number of marijuana products. In the trunk, the officer found a brown plastic grocery bag with a large square object inside, which, when it was cut open, revealed a brown tar-like substance consistent with heroin. The block weighed roughly 1.0 kilogram, which is 2.2 pounds.

The two suspects were taken into custody and the package was collected as evidence.

If broken down into street-level sales, according to a 2019 report released by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the 2.2 pounds of heroin seized was valued at nearly $76,000, depending on the purity.

Both suspects denied having any knowledge of the heroin found in the car, even though, the officer said, both had access to the suspected narcotics.

Nunez and Rodriguez were transported to Purgatory Correctional Facility and booked into jail each facing second-degree felony possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, along with a misdemeanor possession charge for the marijuana. They remain in custody and are being held without bail.

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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