Bail has been set at $100,000 for a Tacoma man who was reportedly found with a significant amount of fentanyl, meth and heroin in his vehicle during a traffic stop near Napavine on Tuesday.
A Napavine police officer pulled the vehicle over near the Exit 72 on-ramp to Interstate 5 after it “passed his location without illuminated tail lights,” according to documents filed in Lewis County Superior Court.
The driver, Jesse M. Cook, 31, was reportedly “profusely sweating while smoking a cigarette” and “appeared confused when answering (the officer’s) questions,” leading the officer to suspect Cook was under the influence of a controlled substance. The officer processed Cook’s name and found his Oregon license had been suspended, according to court documents.
The officer then reportedly asked Cook’s permission to search the vehicle, which Cook declined.
He was issued a citation for third-degree driving with a suspended license and was told “he could not drive, but was free to wait for a licensed driver or to walk away on foot. Mr. Cook walked away,” according to court documents.
A Department of Corrections officer arrived at the scene with a K-9, which alerted on both the driver and passenger doors of the vehicle, according to court documents.
Law enforcement impounded the vehicle and, upon receiving a search warrant, found plastic bags containing approximately 50 to 100 pills suspected to be fentanyl, 20.05 grams of a white substance suspected to be meth and three “individual pieces of brown tar substance consistent with heroin.”
“Based on (the officer’s) training and experience, he believed the amount of narcotics were larger than user amounts,” according to court documents.
In addition, law enforcement found paraphernalia consistent with drug delivery and a .40 caliber handgun with four rounds in the magazine.
Upon contacting the registered owner of the firearm, officers learned the firearm had gone missing from the owner’s van approximately two years ago, according to court documents.
Cook was arrested and booked into the Lewis County Jail at 8 p.m. on Feb. 8. He has since been charged with one count each of a stolen firearm and violation of the controlled substances act.
He is additionally being held on an unrelated arrest warrant out of North Dakota for possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, according to court documents and jail records.
Judge Joely Yeager granted the prosecuting attorney’s request for high bail during Cook’s preliminary hearing in Lewis County Superior Court on Thursday.
“Allegations of this much fentanyl on their person is a huge risk to community safety,” Yeager said Thursday.
Cook’s arraignment hearing is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 16.
