CEDAR CITY — Four suspects, including three juveniles, were taken into custody following a felony traffic stop on Interstate 15 in Millard County on Monday afternoon.
The vehicle’s lone adult occupant, identified as Edgar Omar Aguila, 18, was later booked into Millard County Jail.
According to the probable cause statement filed in support of his arrest, Aguila was a passenger in the back seat of an SUV that was traveling northbound on I-15 and which state investigators had identified as containing a person wanted for fleeing and possible truck trafficking.
“I was able to coordinate with other state and local resources to locate the subject vehicle and set up for a takedown,” a Utah Highway Patrol trooper wrote in the affidavit, adding, “Near mile marker 146 on northbound I-15, units were able to conduct a cold spike of the subject vehicle. rendering all four tires flat.”
During their search of the vehicle, troopers reportedly found inside the trunk four large boxes containing approximately 3,500 THC vape cartridges and an airsoft toy rifle that had been painted black so as to resemble a real gun.
“Under the back seat of the SUV, I located a bag of approximately 23 grams of psilocybin mushrooms, some loose THC cartridges and a large machete,” the arresting trooper wrote in the charging documents.
Because the driver and the other two passengers in the vehicle were all minors under age 18, no information about their status is publicly available other than they were taken into custody.
Aguila, meanwhile, is being held in jail on suspicion of two separate counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, one of which is a second-degree felony and the other a third-degree felony. He also faces a potential charge of unlawful possession of a dangerous weapon, a class A misdemeanor.
“The above subject currently has multiple cases being brought against him in Salt Lake County for fleeing and eluding law enforcement,” the UHP trooper wrote in the affidavit, referring to Aguila. “The subject also was in possession of a large amount of THC vape products for distribution and has no ties to the Millard County area.”
In addition to multiple UHP troopers, law enforcement officers from Iron, Beaver and Millard counties also responded and provided assistance during the incident, which involved temporary exit closures along the interstate. A Utah Department of Public Safety helicopter was also deployed.
This report is based on statements from court documents and law enforcement officials 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.
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