Font ResizeIron County sheriff's deputies have arrested four people accused of running cocaine from California to Ohio and using three children as a cover.
About 11:15 a.m. Tuesday, Deputy Wade Lee pulled over a large SUV drifting in and out of its lane on northbound Interstate 15.
"I could smell marijuana when I first started talking to [the driver]," Lee said. "He said he knew he was driving badly because the 2-year-old was playing with the car and put it in four-wheel drive."
When he asked where they were going, the 28-year-old driver said they were on the way back from visiting his sick uncle in California. But when Lee asked about the uncle's illness, he couldn't say what was wrong with him.
"He said he had cancer. I asked what kind and he just stared at me," Lee said, until another man piped up with "throat cancer."
The driver allowed Lee to search the car, and when he reached underneath the center console he found nine pounds of cocaine in three tightly wrapped packages, worth about $2 million on the street, according to the Sheriff's Office. He also found a loaded .38 caliber handgun and a small amount of marijuana for personal use.
The three men, ages 30, 28 and 24, and one woman, 26, all of Warren, Ohio, were arrested on suspicion of cocaine possession, child abuse and other charges.
The four adults admitted they brought the children as decoys, said Deputy Aaron Pallesen.
"When you've got that many
The driver and the 26-year-old woman claimed to be the parent of the 2-year-old boy. The other two children, an 11-year-old girl and 13-year-old girl, were not related to anyone in the car. The 30-year-old man claimed to be married to their mother but was not, Lee said, though he may be her boyfriend. Officers plan to return the girls to their mother. The 24-year-old man, wanted for a burglary and probation violation in Ohio, said he went along to watch the two girls, Lee said.
The other two men also had criminal records for drug and weapons possession, Lee said.
