K9 'Loki' Helps Find 88 Pounds Of Meth Worth $500,000+ During Weld County Traffic Stop
/ CBS Colorado
WELD COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4) – A K9 team in Weld County successfully seized more than 88 pounds of methamphetamine recently, worth more than half a million dollars in street value. K9 Loki, and Weld County Deputy Brian Fortin, found the meth in a suitcase in the back seat of a pickup truck and in its spare tire under the bed, during a traffic stop near Kersey.
(credit: Weld County)
Colorado State Patrol asked for assistance from the K9 team during a traffic stop. State patrol believed Arturo Mercado and Jesus Arturo Gonzalez were trafficking narcotics.
Loki performed an open-air sniff of the exterior of the vehicle and signaled that there were illegal narcotics in the truck.
(credit: Weld County)
After Mercado and Gonzalez were detained, body camera footage obtained by CBS4 showed deputies and troopers finding a suitcase of meth in the back of the truck. They then lowered the spare tire in the truck where more drugs were found.
A Weld County Sheriff's Office K9 team recently participated in a traffic stop that resulted in the seizure of more than $500,000 in illegal drugs.
About 8:45 a.m. Aug. 30, Deputy Brian Fortin and his K9 partner, Loki, responded to Weld County roads 49 and 42 about eight miles south of Kersey to assist the Colorado State Patrol with a traffic stop. The state patrol had pulled over a white pickup and suspected the two men inside, Arturo Mercado and Jesus Arturo Gonzalez, were trafficking narcotics. Loki, an American Society of Canine Trainers Certified Narcotics Detection dog, was called to perform an open-air sniff of the exterior of the vehicle.
Loki alerted to the odor of narcotics in the pickup. Mercado and Gonzalez were taken into custody while troopers and deputies searched the vehicle. That search yielded 88 pounds of methamphetamine with a total estimated street value of $528,000, or $6,000 per pound.
Some of the methamphetamine was packed in a suitcase found in the backseat of the pickup. The majority had been hidden inside the truck's spare tire.
The coordinated traffic stop was part of a broader investigation by the Weld County Drug Task Force and the Drug Enforcement Administration into a drug trafficking operation in Weld. Four days later, on Sept. 2, the task force executed five search warrants in Greeley, Evans and Garden City marking the end of an investigation that netted about 5,000 fentanyl pills, 100 pounds of meth, a pound of cocaine, weapons and about $250,000 in cash.
The Weld County Sheriff's Office assisted with the investigation, executing a search warrant at a property in the 2300 block of 49th Street in Evans. There deputies found two pounds of meth and an illegal grow operation encompassing more than 100 marijuana plants.
Anyone with information regarding this or any other crime is asked to call the Weld County Sheriff's Office at (970) 356-4015 or Northern Colorado Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477). Tips can also be submitted through the Crime Stoppers website at www.crimeshurt.com. Those submitting tips through Crime Stoppers that lead to the arrest and filing of charges on a suspect(s) may be eligible for a cash reward.
The 88 pounds of meth, worth $6,000 per pound, were seized and both suspects were taken into custody.
(credit: Weld County)
According to the Weld County Sheriff's Office, the stop was part of a larger scale drug task force operation. Four days after the arrests, more warrants were executed. WCSO said more than 5,000 fentanyl pills, one pound of cocaine, weapons and an additional 100 pounds of meth were found. Weapons were also seized -- along with $250,000 in cash.
