{"id":2448532,"date":"2019-09-10T20:48:01","date_gmt":"2019-09-11T02:48:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/man-arrested-with-100lb-of-meth-has-no-prior-record\/"},"modified":"2019-09-10T20:48:01","modified_gmt":"2019-09-11T02:48:01","slug":"man-arrested-with-100lb-of-meth-has-no-prior-record","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/man-arrested-with-100lb-of-meth-has-no-prior-record\/","title":{"rendered":"Man arrested with 100lb of meth has no prior record"},"content":{"rendered":"
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<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

The man caught with nearly $1 million worth of methamphetamine during a traffic stop Monday has no criminal history, according to court records.<\/p>\n

Colorado State Patrol pulled over Edgar Esquivel-Tecalco, 33, around 12:30 p.m. Monday near Glenwood Springs after a trooper observed him making unsafe lane changes and using a cellphone mounted on the windshield while along Interstate 70 and following other vehicles too closely.<\/p>\n

The trooper said the car was speeding 5-9 miles over the speed limit.<\/p>\n

After pulling him over at the Kum & Go gas station in West Glenwood, the trooper returned Esquivel\u2019s license, registration and insurance documents, with \u201ca verbal warning for the traffic violations,\u201d according to court documents.<\/p>\n

Esquivel said he was traveling from California to Denver to purchase a new car.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told (Esquivel) I had one other question for him,\u201d the trooper wrote in the arrest affidavit.<\/p>\n

The trooper gave Esquivel a written search consent form to sign, and asked if he understood it.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter he signed the consent form I again asked him if he understood the form and agreed to it. He said yes,\u201d the trooper wrote.<\/p>\n

Investigators began searching the Honda minivan, and found bricks of methamphetamine in all four of the car\u2019s interior door panels.<\/p>\n

In total, law enforcement found 62 bricks that tested positive for methamphetamine, weighing 93 pounds in total, according to the affidavit.<\/p>\n

The amount of methamphetamine seized \u201ccould be the largest in Garfield County,\u201d Sheriff Lou Vallario said, but he doesn\u2019t keep track of all the seizures.<\/p>\n

Esquivel faces up to 32 years and a potential $1 million fine if convicted of unlawful distribution of a schedule 1 drug, a class 1 felony.<\/p>\n

Ninth District prosecutor Tony Hershey said he is concerned the defendant will not appear in court if he can post bond, set Monday at $150,000 cash or surety.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors asked for a $1 million bond, the estimated street value of the methamphetamine Esquivel was allegedly transporting. Despite not having a criminal record and having no failures to appear in court, Hershey urged a higher bond to ensure Esquivel would make it to court.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf this defendant is able to post bond and leaves this state, we are never going to see him again,\u201d Hershey said in a court hearing Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Hershey said he is not certain of Esquivel\u2019s immigration status, or what contacts he has in California, where he lives.<\/p>\n

Ninth District Judge Denise Lynch said the amount of drugs found in the car represented a \u201chuge risk to community and the country at large.\u201d<\/p>\n

The $150,000 cash or surety bond is commensurate with similar drug trafficking offenses, Lynch said.<\/p>\n

As condition of the bond, Lynch ordered that Esquivel is not allowed to leave Colorado until his next court date Sept. 18.<\/p>\n

tphippen@postindependent.com<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The man caught with nearly $1 million worth of methamphetamine during a traffic stop Monday has no criminal history, according to court records. Colorado State Patrol pulled over Edgar Esquivel-Tecalco, 33, around 12:30 p.m. Monday near Glenwood Springs after a trooper observed him making unsafe lane changes and using a cellphone mounted on the windshield […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2448532","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-26 12:39:49","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2448532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2448532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2448532\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2448532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2448532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2448532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}