COTTAGE GROVE, Ore. -- Two California residents were arrested Saturday afternoon by Oregon State Police troopers when a traffic stop north of Cottage Groveuncovered about 8 pounds of crystal methamphetamine in the vehicle.
At 12:30 p.m. an OSP trooper stopped a 2007 Nissan Titan pickup displaying California license plates northbound on Interstate 5 near Cottage Grove for failure to drive within a single lane and for failing to move over for another emergency vehicle that was on the shoulder of I-5. The occupants were identified as driver Rosa P. Monson, 20, from Fresno, Calif., and passenger Roberto Mendoza-Ballardo, 29, from River Bank, Calif.
A drug dog located the crystal methamphetamine. The methamphetamine was being transported in a hidden compartment inside the dash of the pickup. Packaged in eight 1-pound plastic bags, the crystal methamphetamine had an estimated value of $168,000.
Monson and Mendoza-Ballardo were both arrested without incident for Unlawful Possession and Delivery of Methamphetamine. They were lodged in the Lane County Jail.