21-year-old arrested for fentanyl trafficking after Blackfoot car crash
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BLACKFOOT — A 21-year-old Idaho Falls man was arrested after police say they found evidence he was trying to traffic fentanyl during an investigation into a car crash.
Jesus Camacho Ramirez was charged with felony fentanyl trafficking, felony possession of a controlled substance, and a felony enhancement for being a persistent violator.
On Aug. 10, court documents show an officer with the Blackfoot Police Department responded to the area of the I-15 93 exchange to assist a Bingham County Sheriff’s Deputy with a car crash.
The officer arrived at the scene, took photos of the crash, gave the occupants of a Tan Chevy Avalanche a case number, and told them they could leave.
Officers identified the other car’s driver, a black Dodge Ram without license plates, as Fernando Rivera, who had an outstanding warrant for his arrest out of Idaho Falls.
Rivera was handcuffed and put in the back of a police car.
There were two passengers in the Chevy, one of which was identified as Camacho Ramirez.
A K9 officer was called to the scene and performed a free-air sniff on the Chevy.
Another officer performed a search of the inside of the car, where they reportedly found a stolen firearm. The two passengers were patted down, and officers allegedly found a bag in Camacho Ramirez’s pocket.
Inside the bag was a “large quantity of small, round, blue pills with the number 30 inscribed on them,” identified as “dirty thirty’s” or fentanyl.
Camacho Ramirez was handcuffed and put in a police car.
While doing so, he reportedly claimed the pants he was wearing did not belong to him but were owned by the other passenger. He stated he was wearing them because his pants had gotten wet.
Officers asked Camacho Ramirez to remove the rest of the items in his pockets. He gave officers “several sets of keys, his wallet containing his ID card, and $325 in cash.”
According to court documents, officers also found a “bindle baggie containing 15 pills with an identical appearance to the ones in the (first bag)” in Camacho Ramirez’ rear left pocket.
Camacho Ramirez was taken to the Bingham County Jail. According to police reports, Camancho became upset while driving to the jail. He “was kicking the cage in front of him, and was slamming his head and shoulder into the plexiglass divider” in the backseat of the police car.
Once at the jail, officers say they found another “small bindle baggie with a white, crystallized substance,” which they recognized as methamphetamine, in the band of Camacho Ramirez’s hat.
Camacho Ramirez was booked into the Bingham County Jail on a $150,000 bond. He is expected to appear for a preliminary hearing on Aug. 22.
If convicted, Camacho Ramirez could face up to life in prison.
Though Camacho Ramirez has been charged with these crimes, it does not necessarily mean he committed them. Everyone is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty.