State authorities were tracking the Volkswagen Bug of the Gillette, Wyoming, man accused of trafficking meth from Colorado to Wyoming, when the bug broke down and prompted a traffic stop and a drug bust, according to court documents.
Wade Earl Schear, 41, was returning to Gillette from Colorado on June 22 when his purple VW Bug slowed to a crawl and spewed black smoke in Chugwater, prompting a Platte County Sheriff’s Office deputy to pull him over, according to an affidavit in the state-level drug case filed against Schear.
The Platte County Attorney’s office charged him with felony meth possession charges after a search of the Bug allegedly revealed 871 grams — or about 2 pounds — of meth, 1 ounce of marijuana and $811 cash bound by a rubber band.
But the prosecutor dropped the state case Aug. 12 – ten days after the new federal case was filed.
But The Cops Were Already Tracking Him
But Schear had already been under surveillance since about March, according to an affidavit filed earlier this month in a federal case accusing him of possessing while intending to distribute meth.
If convicted on the federal charge, he faces between 10 years and life in prison, and up to $10,000 in fines.
The federal affidavit says Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation Task Force Officer Austin Birkle received license plate reader information from an intel analyst on May 7, showing Schear’s vehicle driving through Larimer County, Colorado, and near Thornton, Colorado, on April 13 and 17, respectively.
Helped by other investigation tips indicating Schear was allegedly planning a drug run, Birkle applied for and was granted a search warrant to track the Bug using an electronic tracker that was placed on it.
Agents watched the Bug travel to Colorado on June 21. They watched it head north to Chugwater the next day, driving slowly on Interstate 25 near Chugwater, says the document.
Agents told Platte County Sheriff’s Deputy Cody Keller to keep a lookout. Keller did, and found the Bug crawling about 25 mph on the South Chugwater Highway with its flashers on, spewing diesel smoke.
Keller found a nervous Schear.
Platte County Sheriff David Russell then subjected the man’s vehicle to a K-9 drug-detection dog sniff. The dog, Toro, alerted that the vehicle contained drugs, the affidavit says.
In the interview that followed, Schear allegedly admitted to trafficking drugs from Colorado to Wyoming about once a month.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
