Traffic stop results in drug charges

At a recent traffic stop, Thermopolis police officer Mike Mascarro made a major drug bust of a local distributor that captured around $1,000 of crystal meth. This is still an open investigation, and all allegations for those involved are still alleged.

On Friday night January 15, officer Mascarro was driving southbound on South 6th Street in the area of Family Dollar and he saw a van pull out of the Paint Brush motel. Mascarro had been aware of the van for several days already. He saw that it didn't have a front license plate on it and was occupied by three people. As the van passed him, he noticed there was no license plate on the rear either. Mascarro turned around and lit up his police car lights. The van pulled into the Maverik parking lot very slowly. Mascarro saw there were a lot of furtive movements in the back as he approached. Furtive means an activity that is suspicious, attempting to avoid notice, done to hide or cover up something, to deceive. This is not normal behavior. 

Mascarro approached the passenger side of the van and noticed the person in the back seat was hunched over and hiding something. In plain view, he could see multiple baggies and multiple butane torches. Mascarro saw that this was likely a meth situation. Mascarro had the man in the back to open the back door, patted him down and detained him in handcuffs. Mascarro then called for backup. The front two passengers were moving around and two police units quickly arrived. 

The backup officer patted down the front right passenger Glen Clifford. Clifford was the recent victim of a truck vs. pedestrian accident in the street near Mack's Market on Sunday, January 17.

Mascarro said that Clifford did a urinalysis for drugs the day before this traffic stop incident and he tested positive for meth.

The driver of the van, Charles Granger, is known as "Chuck".

Mascarro said he knew Granger's criminal history as a meth distributor, in which he is a convicted felon for.

Mascarro told Granger that he pulled the van over because of no plates. Granger said he has a title. However, Mascarro said that he would look at the title issue later and asked Granger if he had any weapons on himself before a pat-down. Granger said he had three knives. Mascarro found two knives and went to look for the third, where he found a meth pipe in Granger's pants pocket. This discovery now transitioned this from a regular traffic stop to evidence of drug criminal activity.

After more searching on Granger, they found meth in his pocket. Mascarro then said that he is under arrest for possession of meth, and he cuffed Granger and put him in the patrol vehicle. This led to a search of the entire vehicle which led to them finding the remaining portion of the meth.

The search netted one rock of crystal meth that weighs 4.25 grams. The average user uses about an eighth of a gram to one-quarter of a gram. This rock is about 10 uses. Adding the rest of the meth captured it totaled almost 10 grams. One gram of meth costs about $100. So, this captured meth adds up to about $1,000 worth. 

A user lights up a meth pipe with a butane torch to get the level of heat where it smokes up and burns the meth crystal. With a popular tobacco product, Vegas cigars, people create meth pipes with its glass tubes. 

Mascarro found the large crystal rock, lots of baggies, and said he thought to himself, "This guy is distributing." He charged Granger with possession of a controlled substance and intent to deliver. It takes more than 3 grams to reach the threshold between a misdemeanor and a felony. 

Mascarro also discovered that Granger had $4,000 cash in his pockets with $3,800 having bank bands wrapped around the bills. Mascarro said he was thinking that this money wasn't coming from what he made off of selling drugs because the cash came from the bank.

Mascarro said he speculated that Granger just purchased the meth and planned to cut it down and sell it. Mascarro said, "Carrying meth in big rocks like that isn't normal."

Mascarro said about Granger, "I knew he just sold a couple of trailers over the last month or so" and that Granger showed Mascarro a check for $10,000 a couple of months ago during a traffic stop. Mascarro said he was thinking Granger dipped into that money to buy the large rock of crystal meth. 

Mascarro said they don't know where Granger got the rock of meth, but they do have several leads. Granger refused to talk about his source as he invoked his Miranda rights. Mascarro assumes that Granger was distributing only in Thermopolis.

Mascarro said, "It's an opportune time for him to do that because we just busted Terry Sani, so now somebody else steps in. That's usually the way this works, the demand is still there. And now the demand is even stronger because you've had constant use for so long and then all of a sudden your source is gone. Nobody gets a hit for a few weeks, maybe a month, and people are just craving, craving, craving." 

Mascarro estimates that there is an approximate 20% amount of people in Thermopolis that are meth users. He said there are various levels of use. There are extreme users who are easily recognizable to closet users who blend in with everyday people. The drugs make people have euphoria and feel superhuman-like strength and energy. The first use can lead to addiction and a strong desire to re-experience their first high. 

Mascarro said that he and Clifford had a heart to heart talk about the use and addiction of meth when he tested positive the day before the traffic stop. Mascarro told Clifford to look at his life, that he is homeless, living couch to couch and not being employed, having no money. Mascarro said, "Man, you can attribute it all to meth, you need to stop."

When Mascarro saw Clifford during the traffic stop, he wasn't high on meth but appeared intoxicated. According to Mascarro, Clifford said, "Hey man, I'm not high though. That conversation you had with me hit home. I'm trying to stop. I'm not trying to stop all my vices right away, but at least for meth, I'm done. All I have now is alcohol."

Mascarro pointed out that Clifford was not violating any of his bond conditions. He didn't have any meth on him, it wasn't around him. At the end of the traffic stop, the police released him. 

As of December 2020, Mascarro is certified as a DRE, a drug recognition expert. He said he, "wants the people of our town to know the police department is doing the best they can to combat drug use in Thermopolis." 

Mascarro added that if there is someone currently using drugs but has the desire to get clean, he said, "First off they have to recognize they have an addiction and then they have to reach out for help. People can absolutely get free from meth. There are people amongst us that were meth addicts and are no longer meth addicts, they have wonderful lives now. They are nurses, construction workers, people who make Thermopolis better and are wonderful citizens. They had that struggle and addiction, and they overcame it. They have to admit they have issues, they have to reach out for help, and once they get that help they have to make a decision in their life to separate themselves from the old ways, their old friends that make people crave the meth. With that help, they can overcome."

Mascarro said that going to jail and the court system can get the users in a place to restart. With probation, there is the potential of going to rehab. Mascarro said some users came back from rehab and told him, "surprisingly, they come to me and say 'hey, I'm clean!' They'll tell me, 'thanks, thanks for being such a hardass on me. Thanks for helping me out. Because of you, it forced me to get some help.' I cannot even count how many times people have said that to me. They've graduated rehab, they're clean and starting new lives."