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SANDY — Police said they found more than they bargained for during a routine drug bust Monday.
Seventeen Cottonwood Heights police officers descended on the home of Andrew Copenhaver's mother on Woodthrush Drive in Sandy about 6 a.m., said Cottonwood Heights Police Sgt. Dan Bartlett.
Police suspect Copenhaver, 26, of selling drugs in Sandy and Cottonwood Heights. They served a warrant for a related case on a home in the neighborhood in August, Bartlett said.
Officers discovered marijuana, acid and eight firearms, "including an illegally manufactured suppressor" or silencer, Bartlett said. They also found an AR-15 that was converted to be fully automatic, and an AR-10, which is a large semi-automatic gun.
"They're wicked guns," Bartlett said, adding that the police's armor would not have been strong enough to withstand bullets from the AR-10 and possibly the AR-15.
They also found a semi-automatic rifle and large semi-automatic handguns among the eight total firearms.
"We'll end up going to federal (court) with this case, because to manufacture or have a manufactured suppressor without the proper paperwork, it's a federal crime anyway," Bartlett said.
Copenhaver was arrested "without incident," Bartlett said.
