49 Pounds of Weed Seized, Three Charged in Highway Drug Bust

A major drug bust on the George Price Highway has landed three people behind bars. Police say twenty-one-year-old Whitney Doris Alford of Unitedville, thirty-one-year-old Lisa Marie Gonzalez of Santa Elena, and twenty-three-year-old Francisco Ernesto Landaverde of San Ignacio have all been charged with possession of controlled drugs with intent to supply. It happened Monday night during a checkpoint operation by the Mobile and Highway Interdiction Units. Officers stopped a silver Ford Escape with four occupants, but instead of cooperating, the driver sped off. A chase ensued, and when the vehicle was intercepted, two men bolted while two women were detained. Inside the SUV, police found several parcels of suspected cannabis totaling forty-nine pounds. Landaverde later surrendered to authorities.

 

ASP Stacy Smith, Staff Officer

“Police have formally arrested and jointly charged Whitney Doris Alford, a twenty-one-year-old of Unitedville, Lisa Marie Gonzalez, a thirty-one-year-old of Cristo Rey Road, Santa Elena, and Francisco Ernesto Landaverde, a twenty-three-year-old of San Ignacio all for the offense of possession of controlled drugs with intent to supply. This arrest follows an operation that was conducted by the Mobile Interdiction Unit, as well as the Highway Interdiction Team of the police department on Monday, October twentieth at around seven o’clock p.m. Police reported that in the course of conducting the checkpoint on the highway, they were approached by a silver in color Ford Escape and based on the circumstances at hand, the officer informed the occupants of the vehicle which were four in number, that a search was to be conducted on the vehicle. Having advised them of their intention to conduct the search, the vehicle sped off and police followed and pursued it off a road in the same vicinity. When police intercepted it, two of the male persons fled and the other two females were detained. As search of the vehicle led to several parcels of suspected cannabis which has totaled forty-nine pounds. Mr. Landaverde subsequently turned himself in to police custody.”