OSP K-9 Marley helps trooper find 15 lbs. of hidden drugs during Hwy. 97 traffic stop north of Bend

10 lbs. of suspected meth, 5 lbs. of fentanyl powder; Oakland, Calif. woman arrested, jailed, released

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – An Oregon State Police trooper made a traffic stop on Highway 97 north of Bend Thursday evening, “noticed signs of criminal activity” -- and drug-detection K-9 Marley helped find about 15 pounds of hidden methamphetamine and powder fentanyl, leading to a California woman’s arrest.

The senior trooper pulled over an SUV for an unspecified “lane use violation” around 5 p.m. on northbound Highway 97 near milepost 132, just north of Bend, troopers said.

After the trooper spotted signs of criminal activity, a consent search of the SUV was conducted, OSP said.

The drug-detection dog alerted on the hidden drugs and helped the trooper find about 10 pounds of suspected meth and about five pounds of suspected powder fentanyl.

The 28-year-old Oakland, California woman was taken into custody and booked into the Deschutes County Jail on various drug offenses, troopers said. A jail representative said she was booked into the jail around 11:30 p.m. Thursday and released on her own recognizance about an hour later.

OSP troopers were assisted by the agency’s drug enforcement detectives (through the Domestic Highway Enforcement Initiative), Deschutes County sheriff’s deputies and special agents with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s Bend Task Force.

The OSP-Domestic Highway Enforcement Initiative is supported by the Oregon-Idaho High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA), troopers said.

The Oregon-Idaho HIDTA program is an Office of National Drug Control Policy-sponsored counter-drug grant program that coordinates with and provides funding resources to multi-agency drug enforcement initiatives, including the OSP-DHE Initiative.