ST. GEORGE — A traffic stop led to the arrest of an Ogden couple last week after a police K-9 sniffed around the vehicle and detected narcotics, the Mesquite Police Department in Nevada reports.
The four-legged detective Rogue exercised its powerful sense of smell Aug. 15 shortly after 5 p.m. on Falcon Ridge Parkway in Mesquite during a traffic stop.
Sgt. Wyatt Oliver told St. George News a Mesquite Police K-9 officer pulled over a vehicle heading south on Falcon Ridge toward the Interstate 15 on-ramp when the driver started “acting suspicious.”
After pulling over the vehicle and observing nervousness indicators in the vehicle’s occupants, the officer deployed Rogue. According to a press release from the Mesquite Police Department, the dog sniffed around the vehicle and gave a positive indication for illicit drugs, prompting a search of the vehicle that yielded roughly 5 pounds of methamphetamine located on the back seat.
Backup officers were called in, and the driver, 48-year-old Warren Wixom, and his passenger, Elsie Mora, 46, were arrested.
Wixom was charged with one felony count of trafficking a controlled substance as well as misdemeanor charges for possession of drug paraphernalia, attempt to smoke or consume marijuana in a vehicle and driving with a suspended license.
Mora was arrested and charged with one felony count of trafficking a controlled substance and a misdemeanor charge of possession of drug paraphernalia.
Due to the felony charges, Wixom and Mora were transported to the Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Police say the street value of the drugs is estimated to be up to $180,000.
The arrests and recovery of the drugs are credited to the K-9 officer’s proactivity, Mesquite Police Patrol Captain Quinn Averett said in the press release, adding that the traffic stop reflected “an excellent example of why our officers work so hard to patrol the city.”
Averett went on to say that any given traffic stop – or contact between police and the public – can lead to the discovery of illegal activity that would otherwise be left unchecked and place the public at risk.
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