Man arrested, charged after hiding 2 pounds of meth in raw shrimp, police say

By Cassidy Wixom

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    ST. GEORGE, Utah (KSL) — A man from Hurricane has been charged with drug possession after police say they located meth hidden inside bags of raw shrimp in his vehicle.

Jose Manuel Reyes Ruiz, 48, was charged last week with drug possession with intent to distribute, a second-degree felony; endangerment of a child, a third-degree felony; plus drug paraphernalia possession, a class B misdemeanor.

On Aug. 2, a St. George police officer conducted a traffic stop on a GMC pickup truck because the vehicle’s windows were tinted so dark the driver couldn’t be seen, a police booking affidavit states. While measuring the window tint, the driver started “rapidly providing unsolicited information regarding the vehicle and a dog in the rear seat.”

The officer noted the man, identified as Ruiz, was nervous and fumbling with documents when asked for registration.

The driver and his 13-year-old son, who was also in the car, left the vehicle to talk to the officer. While the officer was beginning to issue a citation for the window tint, a second police officer arrived with a drug-sniffing K-9 who indicated on the car.

The truck was searched and Ruiz’s behavior “would change based on the location I was searching, specifically when searching a cooler that was located in the rear seat.” In the cooler were two large bags of raw shrimp that, upon further inspection, contained two plastic-wrapped packages alongside the shrimp, according to the affidavit.

The plastic packages were unwrapped and about 1 pound of methamphetamine was located in each, a quantity that is “clearly intended for distribution,” the affidavit says.

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