The Clark-Vancouver Regional Drug Task Force confiscated nearly 37 pounds of methamphetamine, two firearms and $35,500 in cash from a vehicle driven by a Vancouver resident.
According to the Clark County Sheriff’s Office, the task force worked alongside Clackamas, County, Ore., law enforcement last week to arrest the driver, identified as Adan Mendez-Pulido, 39.
Mendez-Pulido was booked into the Clark County Jail on suspicion of attempting to elude police and drug possession. The allegations were amended Tuesday to attempting to elude police, possession of methamphetamine and oxycodone with intent to deliver, and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm. He entered not-guilty pleas during a hearing Wednesday, and trial was set for Oct. 15.
It was shortly before 11 p.m. Aug. 8 when a Clark County sheriff’s deputy tried to pull over a white Chevrolet Suburban bearing Nevada license plates in the 200 block of North Morrison Road, according to a probable cause affidavit. The SUV ignored the deputy’s flashing lights and sirens but eventually stopped at a Shell gas station on East Mill Plain Boulevard.
Mendez-Pulido was taken into custody and searched. Deputies found suspected drugs in his front right pants pocket, which tested positive for methamphetamine, according to the affidavit.
A separate probable cause affidavit filed Friday says a search warrant was obtained for the Suburban, which was subsequently searched. Three dozen pounds of methamphetamine “were broken down into smaller packages and hidden in separate areas within the vehicle,” the affidavit says.
Some of the packages were hidden in rear panels while others were located underneath seats, according to the affidavit. Officers found the firearms and money inside a black duffle bag.
It is also alleged that the task force discovered a bundle of about 1,000 round, blue pills wrapped in several layers of green plastic in the vehicle. The pills looked like 30 mg tablets of oxycodone, according to the affidavit.
Judge Daniel Stahnke set Mendez-Pulido’s bail at $20,000 during an initial appearance Aug. 9, but his bail was later increased to $100,000.
So far this year, the task force has seized 117 pounds of methamphetamine, 32 pounds of heroin and a dozen firearms, according to the sheriff’s office.
