Police arrested an illegal alien in Utah, who had been deported from the U.S. eight different times, for allegedly trafficking $850,000 in meth and cocaine.
Jose Olegario Lopez, a 44-year-old Mexican national from the state of Sinaloa, was traveling with his 16-year-old son on Saturday when Utah County officers pulled him over for suspected traffic violations.
But Lopez reportedly did not stop the car, causing authorities to surround him until he was forced to stop.
Officers who initially searched Lopez found he had traces of cocaine on his body, authorities said.
When officers and a K9 conducted an in-depth search of Lopez’s vehicle, they discovered multiple individually wrapped packages. Detectives say they recovered 2.35 pounds of cocaine, worth $106,000, and 16.7 pounds of methamphetamine, with an estimated street value of more than $750,000.
Authorities charged Lopez with two first-degree felony counts of possessing a controlled substance with intent to distribute, one count of failing to respond to obey an officer, and one class A misdemeanor charge of drug paraphernalia possession, according to a press release from the Utah County Sheriff’s Office.
Lopez is currently in custody and a judge ordered that he be held without bond.
Officials say the son was not involved in the trafficking and they released him into the custody of his mother.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials confirmed that Lopez is in the U.S. illegally and has been busted for illegally re-entering the country eight times.
ICE officials placed a detainer on Lopez, meaning that if he is released from prison, ICE can take custody of him and deport him out of the U.S.
Lopez is not the only eight-time deportee to make headlines. One judge threw the book at a Honduran national who had been deported from the U.S. eight times, sentencing the illegal alien to five years in federal prison.
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