BINTF: Traffic stop yields meth, heroin and fentanyl
OROVILLE >> A man was arrested after narcotics agents say they found large amounts of methamphetamine, heroin and powdered fentanyl in his pickup following a traffic stop early Friday morning.
Shawn Nowlin, 48, of Chico, was booked into Butte County Jail on suspicion of selling and transporting methamphetamine and for the possession and transportation for sale of an opiate, the Butte Interagency Narcotics Task Force said in a press release.
According to the release, Nowlin was pulled over for speeding in his Toyota pickup while heading northbound on Highway 70 near Walker Lane outside of Palermo. Nowlin was pulled over by Tyler Hardwick, a deputy with the Butte County Sheriff’s Office. During the traffic stop, Hardwick’s K-9 allegedly picked up the scent of drugs inside Nowlin’s truck, the release said.
After a search of the truck, the release says a “substantial amount” of methamphetamine and 388 Oxycodone pills were discovered. Investigators suspect the pills to be counterfeit.
After the drugs were allegedly found in the truck, Hardwick contacted the Butte Interagency Narcotics Task Force to help investigate. After towing the pickup to a secure location in Chico, a search warrant was signed allowing detectives to conduct a more thorough search, the release said.
Inside the pickup, about 25 pounds of meth, over a pound and a half of heroin and over a pound of suspected powdered fentanyl were found by detectives, the release said. The amount of fentanyl is enough to produce over 544,000 counterfeit pills.
Fentanyl is an extremely potent synthetic opiate that BINTF says is 100 times more potent than morphine and up to 50 times more potent than heroin.
Nowlin is being held on $1 million bail.