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ST. GEORGE — A crash on I-15 in southern Utah on Tuesday resulted in the discovery of drugs, a large amount of cash and child pornography, police say.
Just before 3 a.m., Utah Highway Patrol troopers responded to a crash on the freeway north of St. George. The driver told troopers that "he was just driving when the car suddenly began sliding and he lost control and crashed," according to a police booking affidavit.
A responding trooper, however, noted that the road conditions were dry and he became "extremely suspicious of further criminal activity" after talking to the two occupants of the vehicle. The trooper also noticed that the driver, Victor Hernandez, 19, of Norwalk, California, had a backpack that he "had been carrying around diligently the entire time I was on scene," the affidavit states.
The trooper searched the backpack and found a box containing $30,000, as well as "magic mushroom chocolate bars," the affidavit says. The trooper also noted that Hernandez "now said that the backpack wasn't his and he did not know who the box belonged to."
In the back of the car, troopers found a poster "advertising an underground internet-based dispensary with a QR code to purchase items," according to the arrest report.
Hernandez was arrested and charged Wednesday in 5th District Court with money laundering, a second-degree felony; drug possession, a class A misdemeanor; and possession of drug paraphernalia, a class B misdemeanor.
When troopers began looking at the phone belonging to the passenger, Luis David Nivelo, 20, also of California, they found suspected child pornography, according to a separate police booking affidavit. He was arrested and also charged in 5th District Court on Wednesday with money laundering, a second-degree felony; drug possession, a class A misdemeanor; and possession of drug paraphernalia, a class B misdemeanor. In addition, Nivelo was charged with 10 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, a second-degree felony.
Police also noted that Nivelo is currently out of jail on bail on firearms charges filed in California.
