ST. GEORGE —A 35-year-old St. George woman was indicted in federal court last week following a traffic stop in October that resulted in the recovery of thousands of fentanyl pills, which the suspect allegedly said during an interview was all part of a police operation.
The federal case was filed following an Oct. 22 arrest when a St. George Police officer noticed a vehicle parked at a gas station at the corner of East St. George Boulevard and South 900 East.
The officer pulled into the parking lot and passed the suspect’s vehicle that was stopped next to one of the gas pumps, and as the officer crossed the parking lot, the driver “quickly looked back up and followed my patrol vehicle with her eyes to see where I was and where I was going,” according to the charging documents filed with the court in October.
A check of the license plate indicated the vehicle was owned by a couple, one of whom was 35-year-old Sasha Brenda Jane Kilpack. The officer also learned that Kilpack had two outstanding warrants, the first of which was issued out of Farmington. The second warrant was issued out of Salt Lake County on theft of stolen property and involved a vehicle reportedly stolen out of South Jordan in 2020.
In that case, court documents indicate the car was stopped by a Utah Highway Patrol trooper after he spotted the car in Davis County, and while speaking to the driver, identified as Kilpack, she reportedly told the trooper she had borrowed the car the night before and was on her way to the hospital for a COVID-19 test.
She was arrested and charged with second-degree felony theft, and the warrant that officers found during the traffic stop in St. George was one of four filed in the case.
Once the active warrants were confirmed, the patrol officer approached the suspect’s vehicle, and Kilpack reportedly “jumped out of her vehicle and immediately distanced herself” from the car, the report states. When the officer asked if her name was Sasha, she reportedly said yes and also confirmed that her last name was Kilpack.
Police say Kilpack became “skittish” when told of the warrants, and when the officer asked if there was anything illegal inside the car, Kilpack reportedly said she had 2,000 fentanyl pills in a backpack on the front passenger seat.
During a search of the car, officers found four bindles of blue pills wrapped in clear plastic and secured with black electrical tape. The pills were consistent with fentanyl, according to charging documents filed with the court.
Officers also found a number of blow torch-style lighters the officer said commonly are associated with illicit drug use, along with plastic straws with burnt residue.
While speaking to police, the suspect said she had used the straws that were found in the vehicle earlier to smoke heroin. Kilpack also said the pills were part of a “run” from Phoenix, Arizona, to the Rose Park area in Salt Lake City, and in return, she said, she could keep 100 of the fentanyl pills, intending to “sell them for money.”
The suspect was arrested and transported to Purgatory Correctional Facility where she was booked on second-degree felony possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, as well as misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia. She also was booked into jail on the active warrants.
The investigation was turned over to the Washington County Drug Task Force and shortly thereafter, the case that was filed in 5th District Court was picked up by federal prosecutors at the end of November, a criminal complaint was filed in U.S. District Court.
The complaint also said the suspect reportedly told investigators “she was transporting the pills on behalf of law enforcement officers in Taylorsville,” yet there is no indication she was acting on behalf of law enforcement.
The suspect went on to say she had the officer’s card in her vehicle but was unable to find it and was unable to provide the officer’s name or any other contact information. Later, she gave investigators the name of the purported officer she had been working with, but when investigators attempted to reach out to the officer to verify the information they learned there was no one by that name working for the Taylorsville Police Department.
Detectives also surmised that Kilpack initially told police of her plans to distribute the pills, without any mention of surrendering them to law enforcement, as noted in the complaint. The suspect went as far as to say she was making the delivery in exchange for 100 pills – which detectives say Kilpack had intended to sell in order to pay her rent.
On Dec. 7, one week after the complaint was filed, the suspect was indicted in federal court on one count of possession of fentanyl with intent to distribute and she was placed in federal custody. The following week, Kilpack was arraigned in U.S. District Court where a detention order was signed by Magistrate Judge Paul Kohler and the defendant remains in jail on a U.S. Marshals Service hold.
Once the federal case was filed, the charges filed against the defendant on the state case were dismissed.
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