Arrest could dent K2 trade
Police: Husband, wife trafficked synthetic drug from Houston.
Austin police believe the arrest of a husband and wife who trafficked large quantities of the synthetic drug K2 from Houston to Austin will cause a signific ant dent in the trade of the drug, but it won’t eradicate an epidemic that has plagued the city’s homeless for years.
Charles Herd, 56, and Juanita Price, 41, are facing first-degree felony charges of delivery of a controlled substance in connection with the sale of K2, specifically near the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless in downtown Austin, where local medics have seen recent spates of adverse medical reactions to the drug.
“We believe Mr. Herd and Juanita have been bringing a significant amount of K2 downtown,” said Lt. Kurt Thomas with Austin police organized crime unit. Their arrests are “not going to
eradicate it, but it is going to make a significant impact.”
Herd’s and Price’s arrests confirm police suspicions that large
amounts of K2 — a synthetic drug also known as Spice and Kush that is designed to mimic the narcotic effects of marijuana — have been coming from Houston, where authorities had also seen a rash of adverse medical reactions to the drug and made notable arrests. Herd has confessed to traveling to Houston to purchase the drug for distribution in Austin, according to an arrest affidavit.
“Houston is where we believe this batch came from, and we believe the bulk in Texas of the K2 is being distributed out of Houston,” Thomas said.
The chemical in K2 is typically manufactured in China and the Middle East. It is then shipped to the U.S., where it is sprayed on plant matter and typically ingested through smoking.
Police seized about 400 packets of the drug — 4 kilograms — in the arrests Wednesday, which happened during a traffic stop. Federal officials are now reviewing the case and could file additional charges, Thomas said. The couple was in the Travis County Jail on Thursday with bail set at $75,000 for each, jail records said.
A confidential informant led police to believe that Herd and Price were selling the drug in Austin, the affidavit said. Using city-operated downtown surveillance cameras, police monitored the couple Sunday as they parked in a lot under Interstate 35 at Seventh Street and walked to the ARCH, the affidavit said.
There, police used the cameras to watch as Herd and Price appeared to sell the drug to at least three different people, the affidavit said. Minutes later, police in the area confronted two people seen interacting with Herd and Price. They searched those individuals and found substances suspected to be K2, the affidavit said.
That was enough for police to get a warrant for the couple’s arrest, but police waited until Wednesday to arrest them after they learned through a trace of Herd’s cellphone that he appeared to be traveling from Houston.
In recent years, K2 usage has concentrated around the ARCH, where the drug is often peddled to homeless people.
The drug has sickened dozens and caused at least two deaths in Travis County. The most recent outbreak of medical reactions occurred in August.