STANISLAUS COUNTY, Calif. — A Ceres resident was arrested on his way to Alabama when highway police in Louisiana discovered dozens of vacuum sealed filled with cannabis and cash from alleged drug profits.
According to a press release from the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office, Jorge Valeriano was pulled over around 9 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 14. At the time, he said he was coming from Gatesville, Texas and headed toward Birmingham, Ala., to find employment as an iron worker.
After Valeriano consented to a search, police found 46 vacuum sealed bags with about 51 pounds of suspected cannabis, concealed inside two suitcases and one plastic container within the bed of the truck. He was also found to have $1,457 that St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Highway Enforcement officers believe to be from of illegal drug transactions.
After he was booked into the St. Tammany Parish Correctional Center, Valeriano was charged with possession, profiting from marijuana distribution and intent to distribute marijuana — identified by the Drug Enforcement Agency as a Schedule 1 narcotic.
“Too often criminals attempt to use our local highways and interstates as passageways to transport illegal drugs,” Sheriff Randy Smith said in a press release. “We will not tolerate individuals bringing drugs into our community. If you are found to be transporting drugs into or through St. Tammany Parish, you will be arrested.”
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