Herriman man with nearly 25 pounds of suspected fentanyl arrested in Utah County
Courtesy Utah County Sheriffs's Office
Suspected fentanyl is weighed after being seized by the Utah County Sheriffs's Office on Wednesday, July 5, 2023.The Utah County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday arrested Enrique Rivera Castro, 31, of Herriman, on multiple felony and misdemeanor charges after a traffic stop in Spanish Fork. After being pulled over, deputies conducted a K-9 search of his vehicle due to “the driver’s behaviors,” according to the agency.
During the K-9 search, police allegedly recovered 10 clear packages, each one filled with nearly 2.5 pounds of small pills the office believes to be fentanyl.
The office believes the pills are fentanyl, according to UCSO Sgt. Spencer Cannon, because the shape, size and color is similar to fentanyl seized in the past. Testing had not yet been done to determine if the pills are fentanyl, Cannon said Thursday afternoon, but that testing will be done by either the UCSO evidence facility lab or an outside laboratory.
“They don’t do as much of the on-scene testing like that,” Cannon said.
The office, he added, also has Nik drug testing kits available for field tests. Nik roadside drug tests, though, have not been found to be consistently reliable. In 2017, a California court ruled that the test kit “does not meet a scientific admissibility standard,” and they have yielded inaccurate results in Georgia and Toronto, among other places.
Rivera Castro was arrested and booked into the Utah County Jail after being charged with possession of controlled substance with intent to distribute (second-degree felony), possession of controlled substance (third-degree felony), altering vehicle compartment for contraband (class A misdemeanor), no insurance (class C misdemeanor), no valid driver’s license (infraction), failure to operate in a single lane (infraction) and improper license plate illumination (infraction).
Rivera Castro was pulled over early Wednesday on Interstate 15 near Spanish Fork for the traffic violations, specifically the improper license plate illumination and failure to operate in a single lane.
The traffic stop is typical, Cannon said, adding that in his career he has “probably made” over 25,000 traffic stops and written over 13,000 citations “and I have stopped hundreds and hundreds of cars for violations similar to those.”
Rivera Castro was ordered to be held without bail. UCSO suspects the pills are fentanyl and that the 24.75 pounds of pills could have a street value over $1.1 million. Along with the pills, the sheriff’s office reported finding “a small amount of cocaine” and nearly $3,300 in cash.
“This is not hyperbole to say this — each one of (the pills) has the potential to kill one person,” Cannon said. “We take it seriously.”
