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ST GEORGE — A man is being held without bail after Washington City officers found a large amount of suspected pure fentanyl powder in the rental car he was driving – one of several fentanyl-related arrests in recent months.
On Sunday, a K-9 officer was deployed to conduct a free-air sniff around a white Kia Soul with a California tag that was parked in the Washington City Walmart on Telegraph shortly before 4 p.m., according to the probable cause statement filed in support of the arrest.
When the animal indicated the possible presence of drugs inside the car, the officer set off to write a search warrant. As he did so, two individuals left the store and approached the car, including the driver, identified as 59-year-old Anthony Ramirez, along with his fiance, the report states.
When the officer told the couple he was writing up a search warrant, the driver reportedly said the car was a rental vehicle and then told the officers they wanted to leave.
Both were detained while the warrant was being processed.
Police say after the warrant was approved, the driver told authorities that any drug paraphernalia found in the car belonged to him and that his passenger was innocent. The suspect also told officers there were narcotics in his fiance's backpack that also belonged to him, adding he placed the drugs in the pack as soon as he spotted police.
Authorities then removed two large plastic bags containing a white powdery substance from the backpack that officers initially suspected to be cocaine, the report states.
Read the full article at St. George News.
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