One Arrested After Casper Police Find Meth, Counterfeit Bills
A Texas man was arrested by Casper police Tuesday after officers allegedly found methamphetamine and counterfeit U.S. currency inside a broken-down truck parked at a Casper hotel.
Gerardo Longoria, 26, was booked into jail on a recommended charge of methamphetamine possession. He will likely make his initial appearance in Natrona County Circuit Court at 2 p.m. Wednesday.
Charging documents say a Casper police officer responded to the Parkway Plaza at about 10:30 a.m. Tuesday after a work crew in room 1251 began arguing with a general manager, and the general manager requested law enforcement assistance.
The officer arrived and contacted Eric Phifer, Pon Linneman and Longoria. Parkway staff confirmed that no crime had occurred, and they only wanted the three men escorted off the property. All three men complied and Parkway staff said they would call law enforcement if any further problems arose.
On the way out of the building, Phifer stopped the police officer and claimed that Longoria and Linneman were in Casper to sell drugs, not to do contract work as they had said. Phifer claimed they had a large amount of drugs in their truck outside.
The officer met with Longoria near his broken-down truck in the southeast corner of the parking lot. The truck belonged to Magda Garcia, who had arrived in Casper on Monday to pick up Longoria after he had a falling out with his work partners. However, the truck had broken down, and the pair became stranded in Casper.
Longoria allegedly admitted to the officer that there were multiple bags of methamphetamine inside the truck. He voluntarily retrieved them for officers, handing over two jewelers bags of meth which weighed a combined 2.28 grams and later tested presumptively positive for methamphetamine.
Longoria claimed that Phifer gave him the meth to hold on to after police had shown up the night prior. Longoria denied using drugs, and said the bags belonged to Phifer.
A search of Garcia's vehicle allegedly turned up a glass pipe, a broken pocket scale and a third bag containing suspected meth residue.
Counterfeit U.S. bills were also found throughout the vehicle. A detective responded and questioned Garcia about the bills. After completing an interview at the Casper Police Department, Garcia was released and taken back to her broken-down vehicle.
Longoria was arrested and taken to the Natrona County Detention Center.