I-5 traffic stop turns up 13 pounds of cocaine

A Washington state man was arrested after a traffic stop early Friday on I-5 north of Medford led to a search that found more than 13 pounds of cocaine in the back seat of his SUV, Oregon State Police said.

An OSP trooper pulled over a 2007 Mercury SUV for an unspecified traffic violation, said Sgt. Jeff Proulx.

The driver, Juan Yonic Perez-Palafox, 30, was alone in the vehicle, Proulx said.

The trooper suspected criminal activity, and Perez-Palafox consented to a search of the SUV, during which troopers found about six kilos of cocaine in the back seat, the sergeant said.

Perez-Palafox was taken into custody and taken to the Jackson County Jail, where he was lodged on drug manufacturing, delivery and possession charges, with bail set at $27,500, according to jail records..He was no longer in the online jail directory on Saturday.