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WEST JORDAN — A 19-year-old man accused of operating a large-scale drug trafficking operation is facing a new criminal charge of obstructing justice.
West Jordan police are also seeking to seize cars and money that they say Ntwydamala Christian Cook, 19, was able to obtain through his drug enterprise.
Cook was arrested in September following a 13-month investigation by West Jordan police and the U.S. Postal Service. Police say Cook and his associates were dealing drugs and weapons across Utah and into surrounding states. Blackmarket THC vape cartridges, in particular, were being sold using Snapchat, according to police, who say Cook’s products have shown up in numerous schools across the valley.
He was later charged with engaging in a continuous criminal enterprise, a first-degree felony; seven counts of drug distribution, a second-degree felony; four counts of purchase or possession of a firearm by a restricted person, three counts of forgery and production of a controlled substance, all third-degree felonies.
On Monday, Cook was charged in 3rd District Court with an additional count of obstructing justice, a second-degree felony. The co-defendant in that case is Cook’s mother, Jessica Lynn Jacobs, 43.
Police were in possession of Cook’s cellphone, which was logged into his Snapchat account. According to charging documents, after Cook’s arrest in September, he gave his mother information needed to access his Snapchat account and told her in a phone conversation from the Salt Lake County Jail to log out of his account from her phone.
“This is where all the evidence against him is coming from,” he told her, according to the charges.
Jail phone conversations are monitored by police.
He is responsible for selling 10,000 THC cartridges a week.
–warrant
Not long after, Cook’s Snapchat account, which detectives were monitoring, was logged out.
“I noticed his phone was now logged out and I potentially lost vital evidence in this investigation,” the investigating officer wrote in a police booking affidavit.
In late November, West Jordan police also filed a complaint for forfeiture in regard to Cook’s case. Detectives are seeking to claim some of the property seized from Cook during the execution of several search warrants, including a 2019 Ford Explorer that Cook — who does not have a regular job — paid cash for, a 2008 Mazda RX8, an embroidery machine, a printer and $16,714.75, according to court documents.
Both the Explorer and Mazda were used to transport drugs, the complaint alleges.
On Sept. 9. detectives executed a search warrant on Cook’s Explorer and his apartment. In total, they found “1,667 THC cartridges, 696 grams marijuana, 5.5 grams LSD, 133 grams THC of substance, 18.5 grams THC dabs, 520 bags of edible THC candy, 20 THC cookies, 4.5 grams fentanyl, 3.8 grams methamphetamine, 15.6 grams mushrooms, 1 vile codeine, 8 promethazine doses,” according to the complaint.
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The investigation into a large drug ring allegedly led by a 19-year-old man making many of his deals on Snapchat continues to grow.Detectives also learned that Cook “had a clothing business he used to launder his money,” the complaint states. Because of that, an embroidery machine and printer were seized.
After his arrest, Cook told police that “he is responsible for selling 10,000 THC cartridges a week,” according to the warrant.
Cook’s parents, Jacobs and Corey Darnell Cook, are listed as co-defendants along with their son in the forfeiture case. The Explorer was registered under Cook’s father, and the Mazda under his mother, according to the complaint.
Charges were also pending Tuesday against at least three others who police say helped Cook distribute drugs.
