Jackson County traffic stop nets record drug cash seizure
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RAVENSWOOD -- An early morning traffic stop led to a drug arrest and record cash seizure in Jackson County this week.
Mauricio Tola II, 40, of 35 Aspen Way, Millwood, was arrested Monday on three counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver and is being held on a $300,000 cash bond at the South Central Regional Jail in Charleston.
Tola was stopped by Jackson County sheriff's deputies around 4 a.m. near the intersection of West Virginia 2 and Flatwoods Road, just south of Ravenswood, Chief Deputy Ross Mellinger said.
"It was a high-speed incident where he cut across an intersection doing 70 mph in a 55-mph zone," he said.
As deputies questioned Talo, they found a loaded handgun and $6,000 in the vehicle, Mellinger said.
Admissions by the suspect led them to believe there were drugs at his residence, he said.
Tola was detained while deputies obtained a search warrant for his residence in Millwood, Mellinger said. When the warrant was executed, deputies recovered about 16 combined pounds of marijuana, methamphetamine and prescription drugs, along with more than $80,000 in cash and numerous loaded handguns and military-style rifles, authorities said.
The investigation is ongoing, Mellinger said. Multiple other search warrants have been issued and locations searched, he said.