DETROIT – Michigan State Police found 4.74 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine hidden beneath the back seat of a car that reached speeds of over 100 mph while fleeing officials.
Police chase
Investigators said they began following a Honda Accord at 10:53 p.m. June 6 as it left a gas station and traveled east on Warren Avenue from Schaefer Road. The car had a California license plate.
Officials said they reached a speed of about 45 mph in a 35 mph zone while trying to maintain pace with the Accord.
At 11:01 p.m., Michigan State Police troopers activated their overhead lights and tried to pull the Accord over near the intersection of Warren Avenue and 32nd Street in Detroit for a speeding violation, they said.
The Accord drove around the patrol car, went through a red light, and sped off at a high speed on Warren Avenue, according to authorities.
Troopers said the Accord continued to flee when the patrol car siren was activated. The driver reached speeds of over 100 mph and disregarded several traffic signals, officials said.
A trooper eventually used the PIT maneuver to stop the car near the intersection of Grand River Avenue and Times Square in Downtown Detroit.
Drugs found during search
The driver of the Accord was arrested and identified as Julian Matthew Rendon.
A canine trained to detect drugs alerted troopers to something inside the car, officials said. When they searched underneath the back seat, they found 10 vacuum-sealed plastic baggies containing a white, crystal-like substance, according to court records.
The bags weighed a total of about 4.74 kilograms, officials said.
Two days later, the DEA tested the substance and determined it to be methamphetamine.
“Based on my training and experience, the white crystal-like substance contained within each of the packages appears consistent with how crystal methamphetamine looks,” a DEA special agent wrote in the criminal complaint.
Charge
Special agents interviewed Rendon at the Garden City Police Department, and he told them he lives in California and had traveled to Michigan on a United Airlines flight on June 6.
He said once he arrived in Michigan, he tried to find a hotel room but was unsuccessful, authorities said.
Rendon then asked for a lawyer, officials said.
Rendon has no criminal history.
“Based on my training and experience, more than 500 grams of methamphetamine is inconsistent with personal use, and alone shows an intent to distribute,” the special agent wrote. “Furthermore, based on my training and experience, the methamphetamine was packaged in such a way that is often done when distributing pound quantities at a time.”
The criminal complaint concludes there’s probable cause that Rendon possessed a controlled substance, with an intent to distribute.