NANNETTE KILBEY-SMITH
Officers from multiple Wilson County agencies conduct a search of a pickup truck Feb. 18, when narcotics were suspected after a driver hauling a stolen vehicle was intercepted near La Vernia.
Was it a drug bust? Human trafficking? A high-speed chase?
Drivers on U.S. 87 Saturday afternoon passed by the entrance to the South Parkway Industrial Park in wonder, curious about the law-enforcement personnel gathered around a truck across from the Wilson County Meat Market.
Around 2 p.m. Feb. 18, the Texas Department of Public Safety Highway Patrol (DPS) intercepted a pickup truck hauling a trailer with an SUV on it. The SUV, a Mercury Mountaineer, had been reported stolen in San Antonio, according to Senior Officer Hank Fahnert with the La Vernia Police Department.
“Narcotics were also suspected,” Fahnert told the La Vernia News.
Officers with DPS, the La Vernia and Floresville police departments, and the Wilson County Sheriff’s Office initiated a detailed search of the pickup truck, while the driver was detained.
No narcotics were found, Fahnert said. The driver was released; it transpired he was uninvolved in the vehicle theft, but was transporting the vehicle for a broker. DPS retained the stolen vehicle; its investigation is ongoing.