Narcotics team finds 121 pounds of crystal meth in car during Sacramento County traffic stop
Investigators from a regional narcotics enforcement team in Sacramento County arrested a Southern California man after pulling over a car loaded with 121 pounds of crystal methamphetamine packed in hidden compartments, sheriff’s officials said.
The traffic stop was conducted on Nov. 16 along Interstate 5 just southwest of Elk Grove, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office said the investigators who found the meth in the car were working the area as part of the Domestic Highway Enforcement and Regional Enforcement of All Crimes Team. The regional team is a collaborative initiative between the Sacramento Sheriff’s Office, the CHP, the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office and the Placer County District Attorney’s Office.
Domestic Highway Enforcement is part of the federal High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas program, which incorporates, federal, state and local law enforcement officials.
Sheriff’s officials said the narcotics investigators were working as highway enforcement when they spotted a Toyota Camry commit “traffic violations.” The Sheriff’s Office did not indicate what those traffic violations were.
The investigators pulled over the light-blue Toyota Camry. Sheriff’s officials said an El Dorado sheriff’s K9 dog named Toby, who is trained to detect narcotics and assigned to regional enforcement team, alerted the investigators that an odor of narcotics was coming from the car.
Investigators who searched the car found installed hidden compartments — beneath the floor of the vehicle — that concealed several vacuum-sealed packages of crystal meth weighing a total of 121 pounds.
Fernando Anthony Garcia, 34, of El Monte, was arrested and booked at the Sacramento County Main Jail. Garcia faces felony charges of possessing drugs for sale and transporting drugs for sale, jail records show.
On Friday, Garcia remained in custody at the jail with his bail amount set at $1 million for the drug charges. But jail records show Garcia also has been deemed ineligible for bail, because authorities saty there’s a reason to believe any money or collateral used for bail was obtained through criminal activity.
Garcia was arraigned Tuesday in Sacramento Superior Court. The court has scheduled a preliminary hearing Dec. 3 to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to order Garcia to stand trial, court records show.
The regional narcotics enforcement team in late October conducted a similar traffic stop in the Sacramento area. The investigators patrolling an area near the Sacramento International Airport arrested a man driving a vehicle with three large bags allegedly containing more than 66 pounds of fentanyl pills.
