ST. GEORGE, Utah — A man from Mexico was arrested in Utah Saturday after Utah Highway Patrol allegedly found more than 100,000 fentanyl pills inside of his vehicle.
According to court documents obtained by FOX 13 News, a highway patrol trooper was sitting stationary in his vehicle near mile marker 1 of Interstate 15 when he saw a white Mercedes pass him traveling north.
The trooper would follow the vehicle and noticed the driver go from the left to right lanes once the trooper started following behind them. Then the trooper noted they saw the vehicle leave its lane of travel and cross over the white fog lines with both the front and rear passenger tires. The vehicle had also slowed down to around 60 m.p.h.
Utah Highway Patrol would stop the vehicle for the lane violation. A woman was behind the wheel of the vehicle with a male passenger. According to the man's Mexican ID his name is Juan Carlos Pena Leon.
While the original trooper started writing a citation for the driver another officer would ask the occupants of the vehicle to get out while a K9 conducted a search of the vehicle.
Once there was probable cause for a search, officers found a duffel bag with 9 individual gallon-sized zip-lock bags filled with blue pills. Investigators say the pills had a marking of "M30" on them and were identified as fentanyl.
The bags were also marked with a black marker with, "1063.5 g and 10K." According to investigators, those numbers correlate with the weight and amount of pills inside the bags. Investigators estimate that there was 100,000 pills weighing approximately 20 pounds.
Juan Carlos would tell officers that the drugs in the vehicle were his and the driver had no knowledge of them. Carlos would say that he was offered $4,000 to take the drugs from Phoenix to Salt Lake City but only once they were delivered.
Juan Carlos is now facing charges for possession with the intent to distribute.
