Columbia police, feds seize $180,000 worth of methamphetamine, documents say
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Columbia police seized 20 pounds of methamphetamine worth about $180,000 on the street along with suspected fake pills that might contain fentanyl and guns Wednesday, according to court documents.
A man was charged in federal court and his girlfriend was charged in state court after the searches of a home on Vandiver Drive and a Fulton storage unit.
A DEA officer wrote in an affidavit that local police found 43 grams of methamphetamine on Paulino N. Nafate, 44, after they pulled him over for excess window tint after he left his girlfriend's home. While searching her home they found 9,000 grams of the drug, according to the affidavit. Authorities also found cocaine around the residence, the statement says.
A search of Nafate's girlfriend's storage unit led to 225 grams of suspected fake oxycodone pills that often contain fentanyl, the officer wrote. They also found a handgun, according to the statement.
A Columbia detective wrote in a probable cause statement in the state case against Nafate's girlfriend, Jaimee Girdner, 27, of Columbia, that the pills were likely worth about $30,000.
Nafate is charged in federal court with meth trafficking. His initial court appearance was Friday.
Girdner is charged in Boone County court with drug trafficking and child endangerment. She was booked into the Boone County Jail late Thursday but was no longer there Friday evening, according to online jail records.
