By Lori EhdeTarzan, the Rock County patrol dog, hit on a major supply of methamphetamines last week during a check of an abandoned vehicle.Two pounds of meth with a street value of more than $10,000 were found Wednesday, March 24, on a gravel road in Kanaranzi Township.It was the second major drug seizure in Rock County in less than a week. It follows the arrest of Erick Flores, Bigelow, in Luverne on March 19 when he delivered 2 1/2 pounds of meth to an undercover BCA officer.According to Tarzan’s handler, Deputy Ken Baker, both the March 19 and March 24 cases are connected to a Washington suspect, 24-year-old Sergio Fuentes, Mesa, Wash.A license check on a 1987 Ford van with two flat tires traced the vehicle to Fuentes, whom Baker knew to be a supplier and a brother to Flores .Knowing the van belonged to Fuentes, Baker decided to initiate a K9 narcotics sniff of the exterior."Tarzan alerted to the presence of narcotic odors at the seam of the rear doors as well as at the lower seam of the passenger-side cargo doors," Baker said. "That gave us probable cause to conduct an interior narcotics sniff."He said it didn’t take long for Tarzan to detect narcotic odors."He immediately went to the third row rear seat of the van and tried to crawl up under the seat," Baker said.When he opened the back doors of the van, he said Tarzan picked up a piece of green cellophane.Recognizing the plastics as a common form of narcotics packaging, Baker kenneled Tarzan to search the seat by hand.When he looked up under the seat cushion, Baker said he could see two packages inside the seat cushion, between the foam and the springs."It was in a place where we wouldn’t have found it without Tarzan," Baker said. "You had to be in just the right place looking up under the seats to see it."One was wrapped in green cellophane, and the other was wrapped in green cellophane with an additional layer of duct tape around it.Considering local law enforcement typically arrests local users with quarter ounces of meth, a 2-pound seizure is significant."It was a tremendous find," Baker said. "There’s two pounds of meth that would have never been discovered without help from a dog."He said Tarzan was rewarded with some play time, since finding drugs is associated with finding a toy during canine training."When he’s looking for drugs, he’s acting like he’s looking for his toy," Baker said. Baker also recognized the importance of citizen involvement in this case, in addition to cooperation from Rock County and surrounding law enforcement.A rural Rock County resident had stopped at the Sheriff’s Department for a burn permit on March 24 when he also mentioned the van near his place."It’s ironic how it worked out, because he was embarrassed about even mentioning something so minor, but I told him something small like this can sometimes yield big things."According to the County Attorney’s Office, Fuentes is in custody of federal officials awaiting trial in U.S. District Court, Minneapolis. The March 24 meth seizure will be added to the March 19 felony drug possession charges."It’s just great work by Ken," said Assistant County Attorney Terry Vajgrt. "That’s just a ton of meth to us — even to the BCA and the Feds."The driver of the van remains unknown, and Baker said they’re still looking for information on that person, even though it’s likely he or she wasn’t aware the drugs were in the vehicle."Obviously we’d like to know where they were going with the van and what they were doing in that area," Baker said."If nothing else, there are 2 pounds of meth that won’t make it to the street."
