Estimated read time: 5-6 minutes
MT. PLEASANT, Sanpete County — Two men in Sanpete County are facing criminal charges tying them with a large drug distribution operation.
But how the men were allegedly acquiring such large quantities of drugs is highly unusual.
The drugs being sold were originally seized as evidence by various police agencies in Utah County during unrelated drug investigations. Police had been taking those drugs to a landfill to be disposed of by being buried.
That's where police say Joshua Robert Jackman, 40, an employee of one of the landfills, was taking the extraordinary effort of digging up the drugs after they had been buried and then taking them back to his farm in Moroni where he distributed some of them and reburied the rest.
Jackman was charged on Feb. 15 in 6th District Court with six counts of drug distribution, five second-degree felonies and a third-degree felony.
In January, the second man, Matthew Bradley Stocks, 44, of Mt. Pleasant, was arrested and later charged in 6th District Court with drug distribution, four second-degree felonies and a class A misdemeanor; plus drug possession and possession of drug paraphernalia, class B misdemeanors. Stocks was also recently indicted in federal court on charges of methamphetamine possession with intent to distribute and heroin possession with intent to distribute.
The investigation began to take shape on Jan. 24 when the Utah County Major Crimes Task Force served a search warrant at Stocks' residence, 351 W. 300 North in Mt. Pleasant, after receiving information that he was "selling large quantities of narcotics," according to a police booking affidavit.
"Matt admitted to having been selling narcotics to drug users throughout Sanpete County," the affidavit states.
During a search of the property, police say a safe was found inside a dog house in the backyard that contained meth. Approximately 4 1/2 pounds of meth was found in the dog house with an estimated street value of $400,000, according to an arrest warrant issued for Jackman. An additional $51,000 worth of ecstasy was also found in addition to $30,000 worth of heroin and various amounts of fentanyl pills, psilocybin mushrooms and marijuana, according to the affidavit.
On Feb. 5, detectives from the Sanpete County Major Crimes Task Force conducted a follow-up interview with Stocks at the county jail.
"Matt was asked how he became involved in distributing drugs/narcotics. He said Joshua Jackman called and told him to meet him at his farm in Moroni. He stated that he knew Joshua from" drug court and as a mechanic, the warrant states.
Once he arrived at Jackman's farm, Stocks told detectives that "Joshua had a large quantity of drugs on a table that he estimated to be approximately 20-30 pounds of miscellaneous illicit drugs. That included methamphetamine, cocaine, fentanyl, heroin, marijuana, psychedelic mushrooms, and MDMA, and electronic cigarettes," according to the arrest warrant. "Matt stated Joshua fronted him a large quantity of drugs/narcotics contained in a large black garbage bag, and he was told to sell/distribute the drugs,"
Stocks allegedly told police that Jackman was getting "these large quantities of drugs from the disposal treatment facility in Utah County.
"Matt said Joshua would see the drugs being dropped off for disposal, and instead of pushing them into the garbage, he would push them off to the side with his loader. Matt said Joshua told him he would wait until everyone had left the facility, and then he would load the packaged drugs into his vehicle after hours and transport them to his farm property in Moroni," according to the warrant.
Stocks told police that after Jackman gave him his supply of drugs to sell, Jackman would bury the remaining drugs on his farm, according to court documents.
"He stated that Joshua has excavator equipment that allows him to bury such large amounts of drugs," the warrant states.
A confidential informant also told police that she accompanied Stocks on a trip to the Moroni farm one time. Stocks left with "black trash bags full of drugs. She stated that the contents inside the trash bag were the most drugs she had ever seen in her life," the warrant says.
On Feb. 6, detectives went to Jackman's farm with a search warrant. Investigators found another man on the property and informed him "that they were aware Josh was stealing drugs that had been disposed of by law enforcement agencies in Utah County." That witness cooperated with authorities, stating that Jackman "told him he took the drugs from 'sludge holes' at his place of work, which is the landfill in Utah County," according to the warrant.
Investigators were then directed to another property about 2 miles away from the farm that is owned by one of Jackman's friends. On the property, police found a 5-gallon barrel with a garbage bag full of drugs inside, the warrant states.
"(The witness) was asked why Josh had taken the drugs to the other property. (He) stated that after we made the bust in Mt. Pleasant it made Josh nervous, and he moved them to their current location," according to the arrest warrant.
As of Friday, police were still actively looking for Jackman.
While using an incinerator is typically the normal way for police departments to dispose of confiscated drugs, some law enforcement agencies in the U.S. have used the landfill option. But there are usually strict guidelines that go along with that. Some departments require that a form of waste sludge is buried along with the drugs — which could explain the "sludge hole" Jackman allegedly referred to — and the ground is smoothed over after the drugs are buried to make it nearly impossible to detect it had been disturbed, meaning someone would have to have direct knowledge of where the drugs were buried in order to find them.
