ST. GEORGE — A blown stop sign coupled with an expired registration led to the arrest of a California man after officers searched the BMW he was driving. The officers allegedly recovered more than 20 pounds of suspected drugs from the vehicle’s trunk.
On Tuesday, a Washington City Police Department patrol officer stopped a black BMW on Washington Parkway shortly after 1 p.m. for expired registration and suspected lane violations in Washington City.
According to charging documents filed in 5th District Court, the driver was identified as 59-year-old Ramon Amador Zapien, of Bellflower, located in Los Angeles County, California. Zapien told the the officer he did not have the funds to renew the car’s registration. A records check indicated the registration was last renewed in 2020.
In the meantime, additional officers responded to the scene, including a K-9 officer who deployed the animal to conduct a free-air sniff around the outside of the vehicle. When the dog indicated to the possible presence of narcotics, the driver was asked to exit the car and was detained to allow officers to search inside the vehicle.
During a search of the trunk, officers found a large plastic trash bag that reportedly contained 23 separate bundles wrapped in plastic. The bundles contained suspected methamphetamine and each weighed approximately one pound, the officer noted in the court record.
The suspect reportedly told Homeland Security Investigations agents “he knew he was transporting something bad, and suspected it to be crystal methamphetamine,” according to the report.
When broken down into street-level sales, the meth is valued at more than $598,000. Zapien was then transported to Purgatory Correctional Facility and booked into jail facing one second-degree felony count of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance.
Based on the seriousness of the charges, and the fact the suspect had no ties to Utah, officers requested Zapien be held without bail. The request was approved by District Judge Jay Winward with a no-bail order.
Following the arrest, the case is currently under review by the Washington County Attorney’s Office and the suspect remains in custody.
Methamphetamine
Nearly one-third of all drug-related deaths in the United States are caused by psycho-stimulants, primarily methamphetamine. During the first six months of 2023, more than 17,000 Americans died from meth-related overdoses and poisonings, levels that were on track to exceed a record-high 34,265 deaths in 2022, according to the 2024 National Drug Threat Assessment report released last month.
In Utah, methamphetamine remains the most common single drug involved in fatal overdoses in 2022, and it also ranked No. 1 on “Utah’s Top 10″ list of drugs submitted to the Utah State Crime Lab.
The synthetic stimulant is made primarily in Mexico by the Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels who are the major suppliers of the methamphetamine sold in the United States and is trafficked through the Southern Border. These cartels run clandestine production labs throughout Mexico using a massive amount of chemicals procured primarily from China, the 2024 report says.
While these cartels have been known to use human couriers, commercial flights, parcel services and commercial buses to move the drugs, smuggling in tractor-trailers and privately-owned vehicles remain the most common methods.
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, 2024, all rights reserved.