Feds: Man transporting 75 pounds of meth arrested after Las Vegas traffic stop

From the moment a Nevada Highway Patrol trooper spotted a commercial pickup truck hauling an enclosed trailer midday Monday on Interstate 15 near the Strip, he began to spot red flags. 

The trailer didn’t have a license plate, so he pulled it over, according to federal authorities.

The stop would yield about 75 pounds of methamphetamine and the arrest of two people. 

Jaquavius Trishum Powell, of Monroe, Georgia, who said he and a passenger were on their way to San Diego, is facing one count each of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance, and possession with intent to distribute the drugs, the U.S. attorney for the district of Nevada said Friday. 

Authorities did not identify the passenger nor said if that person was facing any charges. Powell, 26, is scheduled for an initial appearance in Las Vegas federal court on March 4.

Pulled over, Powell told the trooper he was working for a relative’s company that transported things for “higher-end clientele,” according to the criminal complaint.

But he didn’t have the proper driver’s license nor documentation that would signify a legitimate business, the complaint said. 

Powell said the trailer was empty. But when the trooper went to look inside, it was secured with a padlock, another red flag because empty trailers are typically never locked, the complaint said.

Inside, the trooper found two large trash bags in a trunk that were carrying “sealed plastic packages containing …. a large quantity of crystal-like substance,” later revealed by the Drug Enforcement Administration to be meth, the complaint said.

Authorities also recovered two guns and multiple cellphones, indicative of a drug smuggling operation, the complaint said.

If convicted on both counts, Powell faces 10 years to life in prison, officials said.