Deputies find 2 pounds of meth hidden under truck

Heriberto Ordonez

Heriberto Ordonez

Yavapai County Sheriff’s deputies discovered 2 pounds of methamphetamine tucked away in a truck’s undercarriage during a stop early Thursday, Feb. 28, near Interstate 17.

A K9 deputy spotted a 2003 Dodge Ram suddenly exit I-17 to Arcosanti Road near Cordes Lakes just before 2 a.m. He noted an equipment violation and conducted a traffic stop after the vehicle turned east onto Arcosanti Road, according to a news release from YCSO Media Relations Coordinator Dwight D’Evelyn. Heriberto Ordonez, the driver and only occupant of the truck, offered a driver’s license out of Mexico.

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Sheriff's Office deputies examine the undercarriage of the truck where two, 1-pound packages of meth were found hidden over the transmission area. (YCSO/Courtesy)

“He was extremely nervous throughout the interaction with the K9 deputy, indicating he was heading from Phoenix to New Mexico,” the release states. “His comments about travel plans overall were conflicting and raised the deputy’s suspicions that Ordonez may be concealing contraband.”

Based on his training and experience, the deputy believed the vehicle likely contained drugs and requested permission to search. Ordonez allowed the search, signing a search waver.

While examining the undercarriage of the truck, assisting K9 deputies located a package hidden over the transmission area after noticing a component had been recently disturbed. Their suspicion was confirmed when they deployed a special scope camera that showed there was at least one and possibly two concealed packages.

At the YCSO evidence facility, the truck was placed on a lift and the scope camera again was deployed, verifying the location of the packages over the transmission of the truck. They were removed and each was found to contain 1 pound of methamphetamine.

Ordonez, aka Juan Loya Loya, 46, was arrested. He acknowledged he was being paid to transport “certain property,” though he was not told about what the items were or where they had been placed on the truck.

The estimated street value of the drugs is about $36,000.

Ordonez was booked into the Yavapai County jail in Camp Verde on complaints of transportation of dangerous drugs for sale, possession of dangerous drugs for sale and possession of dangerous drugs. He remains in custody on a $10,000 bond and an immigration hold has been placed on him.

The traffic stop was conducted during the same drug interdiction enforcement period that resulted in the seizure Wednesday, Feb. 27, of 10 pounds of meth and 500 fentanyl pills with a street value of more than $200,000. Colorado resident Timothy Milliard, 52, was arrested in that incident.

-- Information supplied by Yavapai County Sheriff's Office.

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