CLARIFICATION, 10:45 a.m. Monday: After laboratory testing, Drees said the drug in question was not the designer drug known as “Gray Death,” but instead methamphetamine and heroin. The story has been corrected with the updated facts.

By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post

A California man was arrested Monday on Interstate 70 in Ellis County with more than 15 pounds of methamphetamine and heroin.

According to Ellis County Attorney Tom Drees, Victor Garcia, a California resident, was arrested by the Kansas Highway Patrol at mile marker 152 on I-70 on Monday, May 15. Garcia was arrested on suspicion of drug possession with the intent to distribute.

Drees said the drug initially was thought to be “Gray Death,” a combination of several opioids including heroin, fentanyl and carfentanil, which is sometimes used to tranquilize large animals, according to the Associated Press. After testing, however, Drees reported the drugs in question were meth and heroin.

Garcia is being held in the Ellis County jail on $500,000 cash bond.

Drees said when law enforcement officials in Ellis County arrest an individual with a large amount of drugs, they will contact the federal Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

If the U.S. Attorney’s Office wants to take the case, Ellis County will drop its charges in district court and allow federal prosecutors to pursue a federal indictment.

Drees said the drug was not being distributed in Hays and, because of that, he believes it could be prosecuted at the federal level, but if federal authorities choose not to, Ellis County will continue pursuing charges.