Man arrested after allegedly being caught with 170 fake fentanyl pills
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IDAHO FALLS – A 34-year-old man was arrested after police say he was trying to traffic fentanyl in Idaho Falls.
Curtis Dredge was charged with felony fentanyl trafficking and misdemeanor use or possession with intent to use drug paraphernalia.
On Friday around 7:44 p.m., an Idaho Falls Police officer noticed a gold Mazda Tribute without a license plate leaving a parking lot near 316 South Woodruff Avenue.
According to court documents, the car had a paper in the back window, but it was not a temporary tag or a dealership temporary registration, and the writing was not visible.
The Mazda crossed two southbound travel lanes to enter the left turning lane to turn east onto John Adams Parkway, and the officer initiated a traffic stop.
The driver identified himself as Dredge and said the car belonged to his friend. He told the officer the paper in the window was a bill of sale.
The officer checked the paper and confirmed it was a handwritten bill of sale dated July 7. Dredge did not have a title or any other documentation for the car and said he would call his friend who owns the car about the insurance.
Dredge admitted to the officer that he was on probation and allowed the officer to search him for weapons. The officer says Dredge’s pockets were “full of items,” and Dredge handed them a pair of brass knuckles.
Once Dredge finished emptying his pockets, the officer patted over them to make sure everything was out and reportedly found a “tooter,” a straw used to inhale drugs.
Dredge was then detained and placed in handcuffs. The officer then searched the car, where they reportedly found a backpack with a “dab pen and dab container as well as several scraping tools” inside the front zip pouch.
Police reports say they also found another backpack pocket with a “plastic Zyn container full of small round blue (pills) with “M” stamped on one side and “/30” stamped on the other side.
The officer writes in the report that they recognized these as 170 counterfeit fentanyl pills, weighing 35.35 grams.
In the same pocket, officers reportedly found six large bundles of cash, totaling $5,990. Dredge was still holding his wallet, which, when counted, contained another $720.
Dredge was then arrested and booked into the Bonneville County Jail on a bond of $75,000. He is expected to appear in court for a preliminary hearing on July 26.
If convicted, he could face up to 11 years in prison.
Though Dredge has been charged with these crimes, it does not necessarily mean he committed them. Everyone is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty.