On the evening of February 17, 2024, Mineral County police deputies pulled over a White Chrysler Pacifica which resulted in a large drug bust.
The car had Arizona plates and was traveling on US-95 about 10 miles south of Hawthorne when the driver was pulled over, and deputies ended up finding 298 pounds of marijuana in the vehicle.
The driver, identified as 28-year-old Tatiana Ruiz of Houston, Texas, was assumably pulled over for speeding when deputies became suspicious of her travel. They brought over a K9 drug-sniffing dog that detected illegal substances in the vehicle; an ensuing search revealed six large duffle bags full of weed, valued at close to $1.2 million.
Ruiz was booked into the Mineral County Detention Center that evening on three charges that include: trafficking marijuana; possessing a credit/debit card in another person’s name; and speeding. Each infraction has a bond of $105,195.
