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SALT LAKE CITY — A man suspected of selling heroin was arrested on the grounds of West High School Thursday — the second man in a week at the school to be arrested for the same crime.
West High School's school resource officer detained Juan Navarro Cardona, 18, just before 11 a.m. Thursday for trespassing on school property, 300 W. 200 North. When police searched Cardona, they found balloons of heroin in his mouth, said Salt Lake police detective Dennis McGowan.
Cardona was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail for investigation of drug distribution.
The arrest comes just one week after another man, German Turcios Ramirez, 24, was stopped by the school resource officer on one of West High's athletic fields. Ramirez was found to be in possession of heroin and crack, according to police. He was arrested and later charged with drug distribution and other crimes.
As the officer approached Ramirez, he asked him if he was a student. "The male responded, 'I no understand,'" and tried to walk away, charging documents state.
The officer then saw the man was trying to swallow something. He made Ramirez spit out of his mouth four baggies of cocaine and six bindles of heroin, according to the charges. He was also in possession of a pocket knife.
Ramirez was charged Wednesday in 3rd District Court with two counts of drug distribution, a first-degree felony; possession of drug paraphernalia, a class A misdemeanor; possession of a dangerous weapon, a class A misdemeanor; and giving false information to a law enforcer, a class C misdemeanor. If convicted, he could face enhanced penalties for the drug charges for being in a drug-free school zone.
Ramirez told investigators he was at the school "to deliver the drugs to a red car and he was getting paid to do it," the charges state.
