A Wyoming state trooper caught an illegal immigrant traveling through Wyoming with 18,000 rounds of rifle ammunition and a small amount of cocaine, court documents allege.
Charged on Friday with being an illegal alien in possession of ammunition, Ricardo Paez-Quinones could face up to 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, and/or deportation if convicted.
An evidentiary affidavit filed in the case says he’s been deported twice already: once in February 2012 and again in June 2014.
The office of the U.S. Attorney for Wyoming said it was not able to furnish his country of origin or age Monday since he hadn't had a court appearance yet.
Wyoming Highway Patrol Trooper Nathaniel Philpot was sitting in his patrol vehicle in the median of Interstate 80 near Rawlins on Wednesday, when he noticed a vehicle traveling 89 mph in the 75-mph zone, says the case evidentiary affidavit.
The vehicle — which the affidavit doesn’t describe — pulled off the interstate at about 9:56 p.m. to visit gas pumps at the TA truck stop, the document says.
The affidavit says Philpot visited the driver’s side door and spoke with Paez-Quinones, who spoke poor English but called his girlfriend to translate by phone for the trooper and himself.
Philpot could see boxes of what looked like high-caliber ammunition in the vehicle’s backseat and passenger seats, the affidavit says.
Paez-Quinones provided his driver’s license, expired insurance and proof of registration. Philpot asked the man to come sit in his WHP patrol vehicle while the trooper filled out paperwork for the stop.
Philpot asked Paez-Quinones questions, including about where he’d bought the ammunition.
Paez-Quinones said he bought it in Utah so he and his girlfriend could go to the range for target practice, the affidavit relates.
Philpot asked if Paez-Quinones owned the guns they planned to use, and the latter said he did not, the document adds.
Troopers asked to search Paez-Quinones’ vehicle, and the man gave them permission, says the affidavit.
When Paez-Quinones said he had to use the bathroom, the document says, Philpot and WHP Trooper Sgt. Chad Bracken escorted him into the truck stop so he could use its bathroom.
As they got back to the vehicle together, troopers again asked for permission to search his vehicle, the affidavit says.
Paez-Quinones said they could open the doors and the trunk but couldn’t get into the vehicle, reportedly.
A Carbon County Sheriff’s Office deputy brought a K-9 drug-detection dog. It alerted to the presence of drugs, the affidavit says.
The document says investigators searched more and found 36 boxes each containing 500 rounds of high-caliber rifle ammunition, and “a misdemeanor amount of suspected cocaine.”
The troopers arrested Paez-Quinones and put him in the back of the WHP vehicle. They also found “large amounts of cash and more misdemeanor amounts of cocaine” on Paez-Quinones when they searched him, says the affidavit.
A tow truck took the vehicle to a secure storage facility. Troopers and other law enforcement personnel sealed the vehicle with the ammunition still inside it, the document says.
The next day, Thursday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) checked Paez-Quinones’ fingerprints against law enforcement databases, the affidavit says, and they found his were a match to the fingerprints of a previously removed alien by the same name.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
