OR-OSP finds 5.7 pounds of meth in traffic stop

OSP finds 5.7 pounds of meth in traffic stop
May 23, 2009

ASHLAND — Oregon State Police troopers snagged nearly six pounds of methamphetamine during a traffic stop Wednesday on Interstate 5 south of Ashland.

A trooper stopped a 1990 Honda Accord at 4:15 p.m. two miles north of the Oregon/California border and initiated a search of the car.

With the help of a drug-sniffing dog, the trooper found 5.7 pounds of methamphetamine hidden in the car.

The methamphetamine carried an estimated street value of $100,000, OSP said in a news release.

The occupants, Octavio Paniagua, 32, and Fabian Villalobos-Cantu, 27, both of Woodburn, were charged with unlawful distribution, manufacture and possession of methamphetamine.

They were lodged in the Jackson County Jail on the felony charges. Villalobos-Cantu was held on $500,000 bail, while Paniagua was lodged without bail after Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents charged him with suspicion of being in the country illegally.

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