Illegal turn leads to discovery of 237 pounds of marijuana, UHP says

A stop for a minor traffic violation led to a large drug bust in Tooele County on Monday by the Utah Highway Patrol.

A stop for a minor traffic violation led to a large drug bust in Tooele County on Monday by the Utah Highway Patrol. (Novikov Aleksey, Shutterstock)


Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: Less than a minute

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

LAKEPOINT, Tooele County — An improper turn and illegally tinted windows led to a large drug bust in Tooele County on Monday.

A Utah Highway Patrol trooper pulled over a van with a Virginia license plate after the driver made an improper left turn onto state Route 36 from the I-80 off-ramp, according to a police booking affidavit. The officer also noted the van's window had a darker tint than allowed by law, the affidavit states.

"During the stop, marijuana was smelled coming from the interior of the vehicle, " the arresting trooper wrote.

The vehicle was searched and the trooper reported finding several duffle bags and cardboard boxes.

"Inside of them was a total of 237 pounds of … marijuana packaged in approximately 1-pound vacuum sealed packages, 4,129 THC vape pens/cartridges and 44.9 ounces of THC concentrated wax," the affidavit states.

Clay Christian Friedrich, 35, was arrested for investigation of having 100 pounds or more of marijuana, two counts of drug possession with intent to distribute, marijuana possession, possession of drug paraphernalia, and two traffic infractions.

Most recent Police & Courts stories

Related topics

Police & CourtsUtahTooele County
Pat Reavy is a longtime police and courts reporter. He joined the KSL.com team in 2021, after many years of reporting at the Deseret News and KSL NewsRadio before that.

STAY IN THE KNOW

Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

KSL Weather Forecast