Nicholas James Imhoff, 29, did not enter a plea when he appeared in federal court in Billings, Montana, on Tuesday on a charge of possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute, the Associated Press reported.
Imhoff was arrested after he was stopped by a Montana Highway Patrol trooper on Interstate 90 near Columbus for driving six miles above the 80 mph speed limit on February 11, The Billings Gazette reported.
He told the trooper that he was on his way home to North Dakota to work on an oil field, according to the newspaper.
But the trooper said Imhoff could not provide an address or even a zip code for where he lives in North Dakota. There was also no luggage in the Dodge Caravan, which had been rented five days earlier in Las Vegas, the newspaper reported.
The trooper noted that Imhoff’s story seemed inconsistent and that he was acting nervous, court documents said.
After a K-9 unit alerted the trooper to drugs in the minivan, the vehicle was seized, according to the Gazette. The methamphetamine was found under floor storage compartments in garbage bags, with some wrapped in duct tape.
The seizure “is by far the largest amount of meth we’ve seen in a single traffic stop,” John Barnes, a spokesman for the Montana Department of Justice, told the newspaper.
Records show Imhoff remained in custody at the Yellowstone County Detention Facility in Billings following his court appearance.The Montana Highway Patrol and the Montana Department of Justice have been contacted for additional comment.
Last month, police in Florida arrested a man after he nearly hit a patrol car after swallowing a bag of meth. Polk County deputies tried to stop Darrell Bailey’s Dodge Ram pick-up truck in Mulberry as he had a warrant out for his arrest for failing to register as a sex offender.
Before that, police in Texas arrested a man after discovering almost 600 pounds of liquid methamphetamine in his vehicle during a traffic stop. Adan Murga-Alvarez, 29, was stopped in Denton in December due to a faulty brake light.
Police officers called in a drug-sniffing police dog after noticing Murga-Alvarez’s “nervous” behavior and a dozen “suspicious” large plastic containers visible throughout his black GMC Envoy SUV.