OKLAHOMA CITY — A Cleveland woman has been charged after a deputy with the Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office pulled her over and found tens of thousands of fentanyl pills, nearly two dozen pounds of crystal meth and other drugs worth an estimated $3.3 million.
“Oklahoma City is a major route for drug traffickers with I-40 and I-35 running right through the heart of the city,” said Oklahoma County Sheriff Tommie Johnson III. “But lately we’ve seen seen a dramatic increase in fentanyl trafficking through the county. It’s cheap. It’s easy to conceal. And it’s very powerful. But it’s also deadly.”
It happened Tuesday on I-35 NB near NE 122nd Street in Oklahoma City.
According to the sheriff's office, the deputy spotted a van driving erratically and initiated a traffic stop. The driver, a 29-year-old Cleveland woman, told authorities she was driving home from a friend's house in Phoenix, Arizona, but when questioned, she wasn't able to give the name of the friend.
She also told the deputy that a friend of hers loaned her the van since she couldn't afford to buy a plane ticket. Thinking the incident was suspicious, the deputy asked to search the woman's vehicle—a request she refused, authorities said. That's when the deputy called for backup and a K-9 unit arrived and alerted deputies when it neared the back of the van.
Deputies then searched the vehicle and discovered a duffel bag with a proverbial cornucopia of illicit drugs worth millions inside.
The bag contained the following, according to the sheriff's office:
- 75,000 fentanyl pills in ziplock bags. Street Value: $2.25 million
- 12 plastic Tupperware containers and 8 cellophane-wrapped bundles filled with 23.5 pounds of crystal methamphetamine. Street value: $1,035,000
- 2.5 pounds of pre-cut cocaine. Street value $60,000
Authorities said the bag contained drugs worth an estimated street value of around $3,345,000.
Once in custody, the woman was handed over to the Department of Homeland Security. Authorities said the government agency will be pursuing federal charges.
RELATED: Drug seizures, overdose deaths in Northeast Ohio at or near record numbers in 2021
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