What began as a traffic stop on northbound I-5 near Salem on Monday night turned into much more after a state trooper spotted an 18-inch-tall statue on the front passenger seat of the car he had pulled over.
A trooper, who is part of a regional drug task force, recognized the statue of Santa Muerte, a skeleton figure resembling the Grim Reaper who some people believe protects people involved in drug trafficking, according to a federal affidavit filed in support of a criminal complaint.
The presence of the statue — coupled with the driver’s initial denial that she owned the car and her changing answers about where she was headed — led the task force officer to search the vehicle, according to the affidavit.
Officers found 45,000 counterfeit oxycodone pills made of fentanyl and several pounds of bulk heroin in bags on the floor behind the driver’s seat, according to prosecutors.
Nancy Garcia, 47, of Yuma County, Arizona, was arrested around 9 p.m. Monday and appeared in federal court this week on an allegation of possessing with intent to distribute fentanyl and heroin.
On Thursday afternoon, U.S. Magistrate Judge Youlee Yim You ordered Garcia held in custody pending trial, noting her prior drug trafficking conviction in 2016, according to court records. Assistant federal public defender Peyton Lee initially asked for a release hearing for Garcia but then asked the court to cancel it.
Garcia first told a trooper she was traveling to Seattle but later said she was planning to spend a week in Portland, then said she’d be staying in a motel in Portland for a day or two, according to the affidavit.
The officer found two plastic grocery sacks inside a larger bag on the floor behind the driver’s seat.
The sacks held more than 10 pounds of the fake pills and about five-and-a-half pounds of heroin, the affidavit said.
Whether the existence in Garcia’s car of the Santa Muerte statue and her changing responses to police questions were sufficient to support a probable cause finding and lead to a search of the car likely will be a source of argument in future court hearings. The affidavit did not describe the traffic violation that initially led to the stop.
