Local News

Traffic Stop Leads to Drug Arrest


Oct 24, 2019

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A traffic stop early Tuesday ended with an arrest for drug possession and much more.

Okanogan County Sheriff Tony Hawley said while patrolling in north Omak, Deputy Gisberth Gonzalez attempted to stop a speeding vehicle shortly before 2am on Tuesday.

Before the vehicle stopped Gonzalez saw what appeared to be the driver and passenger attempting to switch places.  As a result of that activity, Gonzalez saw the vehicle run into the ditch before ultimately coming to a stop on Robinson Canyon Road.

Hawley said Gonzalez contacted the subjects in the vehicle and discovered that the man who had been driving was now in the passenger seat. The man, 42-year-old Kristopher P Graber, of Omak, initially gave Deputy Gonzalez a false name.

Graber was wanted on a felony arrest warrant from the Department of Corrections; additionally he was driving with a suspended license. Hawley said, “Graber was arrested for reckless driving, obstructing a law enforcement officer, driving with a suspended license and his DOC warrant.”

During his arrest, Graber was found to be in possession of a large amount of money in small denominations. Hawley said, “Given the situation, Deputy Gonzalez suspected that the sale of illegal narcotics may be associated with this incident.” Gonzalez requested the assistance of the Border Patrol’s K-9 unit, and Agent Pelton responded to the stop with his K-9 partner who alerted on the truck indicating that there were illegal narcotics inside. Ultimately, a search warrant was obtained and the investigation resulted in the seizure of an illegally possessed firearm, 142.3 grams of a white crystalline substance that field tested positive as methamphetamine, 7.7 grams of a brown tarlike substance that field tested positive as heroin, plus scales, packaging materials of the sort commonly used to package illegal narcotics for resale, drug paraphernalia, and $1,535.00 in cash suspected of being the proceeds of the sale of illegal narcotics.

Graber was transported and booked into the Okanogan County Jail.

Hawley said, “It is great to see the proactive work performed by Deputy Gonzalez as well as the partnership in working with the US Border Patrol to assist Okanogan County Sheriff’s Office.” He said, “They were able to be attentive and work together to remove dangerous drugs from our streets and get a firearm removed from a person who should not be in possession of one.”   

 


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