Patrol: Suspect said pot found in I-70 crash was going to Pennsylvania
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
A Mexico man arrested Wednesday after an Interstate 70 crash revealed 500 pounds of marijuana said the pot was on its way to Pennsylvania, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
The alleged confession was included in a probable cause statement written by a patrol trooper in the case against David Mora Navarro, 24. Mora Navarro was one of two men charged Wednesday with drug trafficking after the crash, which shut down I-70 in Callaway County.
Mora Navarro told investigators that he and two other people in a pickup truck involved in the crash were on their way east after loading up in Oregon, according to the statement. The patrol says troopers found 501 plastic bags with marijuana in them in the road and the truck bed, each one weighing 1.2 pounds. Corporal Kyle Green who works for Missouri State Highway Patrol says 500 pounds of marijuana would be worth well over a million dollars.
"In almost 20 years of patrol I've never seen a situation like this", said Corporal Green.
Callaway County prosecutors also charged Victor Gonzalez Acosta, 32, with drug trafficking. Mora Navarro told investigators that Gonzalez Acosta was his boss.
Mora Navarro was driving on I-70 eastbound in Callaway County when he rear-ended a tractor-trailer, according to a highway patrol crash report. The pickup was then hit by a second semi. The two men along with a second passenger were taken to University Hospital in Columbia with moderate injuries, according to the report.
No hearing dates have been set in the cases and neither man had a lawyer listed in online court records.
