IREDELL COUNTY, NC - On December 22, deputies arrested Daniel Gallardo, 25, following a search of his vehicle during a traffic stop.
The search yielded a total of 17 pounds of methamphetamine, with a street value of $794,899.
Though authorities have not specified with which cartel Gallardo is associated, the Department of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Charlotte Office has confirmed that the suspect is working for “a Mexican Drug Trafficking Organization.”
In a press release, Iredell County Sheriff Darren Campbell stated:
By stopping these drugs from getting into our communities, we have undoubtedly saved lives from potential overdoses, saved families who are not having to deal with domestic violence, and saved our community members from becoming victims of larcenies, breaking and entering and robberies which are committed by those who needed money to buy these drugs to support their habit. Remember, we are just two or three days away from the Mexican Border, and when the border is secure, we are more secure.
Gallardo was charged with felony trafficking methamphetamine by possession and felony trafficking methamphetamine by transportation. He is currently being held at the Iredell County Jail on $750,000 bail and a federal hold.
*Both local media outlets as well as the Iredell County Sheriff’s Office continue to describe the suspect as “a Utah man.”
And, while Gallardo does have a Salt Lake City address, he is, in fact, inside this country illegally.
