Eagle County’s drug task force intercepts nearly 50 pounds of narcotics in February
Courtesy Photo / Eagle County Sheriff’s Office
The Gore Range Narcotic Interdiction Team intercepted 47 pounds of illicit drugs on Interstate 70 in February — nearly half of what it captured in all of 2022 alone. GRANITE is a multi-jurisdictional drug task force composed of local law enforcement partners and detectives from the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office and the Vail Police Department.
On the morning of Feb. 15, a routine stop for traffic violations on eastbound I-70 led to the capture of 10 pounds of methamphetamine and 2.2 pounds of cocaine. The driver of the vehicle, Jaavon Christopher Layne, 31, of Las Vegas, Nevada, informed the on-duty GRANITE officer that drugs could be found in a red suitcase within the car.
Layne is currently being held on a $150,000 bond at the Eagle County Jail for the numerous felony charges incurred from the incident.
Courtesy Photo | Eagle County Sheriff’s Office.
Layne’s next scheduled court appearance is on Mar. 28 at the Eagle County courthouse.
The other traffic stop that yielded large sums of illicit drugs occurred on Feb. 24, just before 10 a.m., near Avon, where another eastbound vehicle was pulled over for traffic violations.
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According to the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office media release, when original contact was made with the driver and passenger of the vehicle, indications of further criminal activity were noted by law enforcement, and a K-9 unit was deployed to the scene.
“(The K-9’s) handler quickly observed an alert where methamphetamine and fentanyl were discovered in a Micky Mouse suitcase,” the release read. Inside, law enforcement found 30 pounds of methamphetamine and 5 pounds of fentanyl M30 pills as part of the investigation.
Courtesy Photo | Eagle County Sheriff’s Office.
Heidi Gonzalez, 30, from San Diego, California, who was driving the vehicle, is currently being held on a $200,000 bond at the Eagle County jail. The passenger of the vehicle, Victor Gonzalez, 35, also of San Diego, is being held on a $250,000 bond.
“In addition to the felony drug charges Victor Gonzales faces in Eagle County, he also has a warrant out of the state of California for possession of a controlled substance,” the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office media release read.
Included in the drug felonies the couple faces in Eagle County are two class one drug felonies of distributing schedule two controlled substances (methamphetamine and fentanyl), a class four drug felony for possession of a schedule two controlled substance (methamphetamine and fentanyl), a class one drug felony for special offender importation of methamphetamine and a felony charge for conspiracy.
Heidi Gonzalez’s first appearance in Eagle County Court will be on Mar. 14.
As parties involved in the interception of illicit drugs through Eagle County on I-70 await trial, the Gore Range Narcotic Interdiction Team continues to work to prevent further distribution of narcotics and other illicit drugs.
