MADGE’s K9 Sniffs Out 112 Pounds Of Meth and Fentanyl Near Ashland I-5 Exit 14

ASHLAND, Ore. — A suspect was arrested at a traffic stop on Ashland Street, near the Ashland Interstate 5 Exit 14 on Tuesday, after K9 Bodie flagged the vehicle in which illegal drugs were being transported.

In late December, Medford Area Gang Enforcement (MADGE) obtained information indicating that a subject would be transporting a large amount of drugs in the Southern Oregon area. As the suspect vehicle headed north from the Californian border on the I-5 on Tuesday, MADGE combined forces with the Oregon State Police and the Jackson County Illegal Marijuana Enforcement Team assisting in the case to stop the vehicle driven by Cruz Bernardo Lopez-Ramos, 31. An affidavit filed in court, Lopez-Ramos is also listed in Jackson County Circuit Court and Jackson County Jail records under the name Cruz Lopez.

When the suspect vehicle was stopped on Tuesday evening in the 2500 block of Ashland Street, near Exit 14, Lopez-Ramos denied consent to search the vehicle, but after MADGE K-9 Bodie smelled and flagged narcotics in the truck, a search warrant was obtained.

On inspection, police seized 104 pounds of suspected methamphetamine in large bundlescellophane, and about 12 pounds of fentanyl in the form of blue “M30” pills- pressed to look like oxycodone. The narcotics were found stashed in a large drawstring duffel bag and a suitcase. Lopez-Ramos was arrested on Tuesday night.

Indicting the Sacramento man on multiple felony drug charges, a Jackson County grand jury accused him of bringing more than 100 pounds of suspected methamphetamine and around 12 pounds of fentanyl- pressed into oxycodone tablets to Southern Oregon. Cruz Bernardo Lopez-Ramos was set to be arraigned on Friday afternoon, on charges of unlawfully delivering and possessing methamphetamine and unlawfully delivering and possessing a Schedule II controlled substance stemming from a cache of narcotics seized Tuesday in south Ashland by the Medford Area Drug and Gang Enforcement (MADGE) task force.

Lopez-Ramos made his first appearance in court on Wednesday where Judge Kelly Ravassipour ordered that there would be no early release unless 10% of the bail set at $250,000 on bond is paid in cash. Lopez-Ramos remains incarcerated as of midday on Friday.