Suspect flees from traffic stop, drug seizure on I-15; found 2 days later in Hurricane

2021 stock image taken Oct. 14, 21021 | Photo courtesy of the Hurricane Police Department,

ST. GEORGE — A suspect who reportedly fled from the scene of a traffic stop on Interstate 15, where officers reportedly recovered more than $140,000 in narcotics from a vacuum cleaner, was located in Hurricane two days later by an officer who spotted the man “acting odd.”

2017 file photo for illustrative purposes only of St. George Police officers in St. George, Utah, Nov. 17, 2017 | Photo by Joseph Witham, St. George News

The arrest stems from an incident that began Aug. 26 when an officer was patrolling northbound I-15 near the Port of Entry shortly after midnight and noticed a vehicle cross into Utah  going 77 mph in a 70 speed zone. The officer also noted a temporary license plate on the vehicle that read “I ‘heart’ LA,” according to charging documents filed with 5th District Court. 

The vehicle with two occupants was stopped near mile marker 2 in St. George, and the driver provided an identification card issued out of Sinaloa, Mexico, which identified him as 31-year-old Mario Emilios Lopez-Bojorquez, with an address listed in Omaha, Nebraska. 

A K-9 unit was dispatched to conduct an exterior sweep of the vehicle, and when the animal indicated the possible presence of narcotics, both occupants were instructed to get out of the car and sit next to one of the patrol units. 

Officers found several new tools still in original boxes, including a shop vacuum with the top of the box secured with what initially appeared to be the original shipping tape.  

When the box was opened, however, the flaps appeared to have markings that showed the packaging had been  “tampered with,” the officer wrote.  

Officers found inside the canister eight large packages of suspected narcotics that later field-tested positive for methamphetamine and each weighed one pound. The suspected narcotics had a total street value of roughly $140,000, according to the U.S. Department of Justice

As the packages were being removed from the canister, the driver fled the scene on foot, prompting the deployment of a Utah Department of Public Safety helicopter to assist with an aerial search for the suspect who fled across the interstate and continued heading west on foot. 

The search for the suspect was unsuccessful and he remained at large, which is when a broadcast was sent out to officers in the area to be on the lookout that included a still photo of the suspect. 

Two days later, an officer in Hurricane noticed a man sitting outside the Texaco Station on Coral Canyon Boulevard. He was “acting odd,” Hurricane Police Officer Dan Raddatz said.

The officer pulled up the alert and established that the photo matched the person police say was acting suspiciously at the gas station some 20 miles from where the traffic stop took place. 

Raddatz also said the suspect had been sitting at the gas station all day when he was approached by the officer, and while speaking to police, the suspect identified himself as Salomane Bavalio. As officers were running the name through emergency dispatch to confirm his identity, the suspect took off and fled east into the desert. 

Shortly thereafter, officers found Bojourquez hiding in a bush off state Route 9.

2020 file photo for illustrative purposes only of Hurricane Police officers on state Route 9 in Hurricane, Utah, Sept. 23, 2020 | Photo by Cody Blowers, St. George News

Once in police custody, the suspect confirmed he was Bojorquez and he was transported to Purgatory Correctional Facility on one misdemeanor count of providing false personal identity to a peace officer. 

With the suspect in jail, additional charges from the original traffic stop were submitted for review, and on Monday, Bojorquez was formally charged with second-degree felony count of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance. 

He also faces three misdemeanor charges that include two counts of failing to stop at command of law enforcement, one for the traffic stop and the second for the incident in Hurricane, along with possession of paraphernalia and an infraction for speeding. 

The suspect was scheduled to make an initial appearance Thursday and is 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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