February 27, 2008

Deputies seize 30 pounds of pot

By Angela Schmoll
angela@surrymessenger.com

ARARAT — Scented trash bags and yards of duct tape weren’t enough to keep Surry County narcotics officers from finding and seizing 30 pounds of marijuana, just after it was delivered to a home on Pratt Road on Monday.

Officers received credible information Monday morning that the marijuana, packed in two separate boxes of about 15 pounds each, had been delivered to Juan Manuel Rivas Castillo, 20, of 1471 Pratt Road.
After receiving the information, deputies from Surry and Stokes counties began an investigation and were able to establish probable cause for a search warrant for the residence.

When officers entered, they found Castillo and the two cardboard boxes. Each was packed with three duct-taped bundles of marijuana. The marijuana had been compacted and placed in plastic bags, then double bagged inside a scented trash bag before being wrapped in duct tape. Officers also found scales, plastic bags and other material consistent with a drug trafficking operation.

Castillo was charged with trafficking marijuana by possession and had bond set at $100,000.

Although the marijuana had been shipped from Texas, Sheriff Graham Atkinson said, “We feel the marijuana was from Mexico and is part of a much bigger distribution network. We will be continuing to investigate.â€