Utah County deputies make major fentanyl bust in Spanish Fork
Oct 15, 2021, 7:30 AM
SPANISH FORK, Utah — Deputies with the Utah County Sheriff’s Office seized a large amount of fentanyl powder from a condo Wednesday they said could have been enough to supply lethal doses to more than 16,000 people.
Sgt. Spencer Cannon said detectives had been watching a condo in Spanish Fork based on information someone was possessing and distributing a large amount of fentanyl.
“They had word also that this individual, Cory Jolley, had firearms,” Cannon told KSL Thursday. “They wanted to get him away from the house.”
Cannon said SWAT team members, detectives and Spanish Fork police officers made a traffic stop Wednesday evening near Expressway Lane and took Jolley, 31, into custody. Deputies then executed a search warrant at Jolley’s residence.
According to a probable cause statement, detectives discovered a small marijuana grow with artificial lighting, ventilation systems and a humidifier.
The documents stated that they also discovered 30 grams of methamphetamine, equivalent to 300 individual user amounts, 8.6 grams of heroin, roughly equal to 86 individual doses, and 75 grams of marijuana, totaling roughly 750 user amounts.
Deputies located 74 fentanyl pills made to look like oxycodone pills as well, according to investigators, along with a handgun with the serial number scratched away.
Cannon said the far more significant find, however, was 32.5 grams of fentanyl powder, noting that individual doses are usually measured in micrograms and as little as 2 milligrams can prove to be deadly.
“There was enough fentanyl there to kill over 16,000 people, were it to be distributed,” Cannon said. “That’s not likely to happen that way, but what can happen is when you’re searching someplace and you come in contact with it, then if it’s in powder form which most of this fentanyl was — and it were to blow up into your face or onto your skin, then it could cause serious injury or even death.”
Cannon said detectives wore personal protective equipment and carried naloxone to counteract any potential ill effects.
Jolley was arrested and booked into the Utah County Jail on suspicion of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, knowingly producing, dispensing or manufacturing a controlled substance, use or possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of a firearm by a restricted person and altering a number on a pistol or revolver.
Cannon said Jolley was being held on $10,000 bail but had already posted bail as of Thursday evening.
“It is disturbing when these kinds of operations are taking place in just a regular, old neighborhood like all your viewers live in,” Cannon said. “You spend your nights there, you go to work during the day, you have family parties and things like that there, and the guy or the gal next door has a thriving drug operation going on.”
