HANCOCK COUNTY — An alert Indiana State Police trooper helped nab two California men allegedly trying to transport more than 2,000 vapor cartridges laced with THC — the active ingredient in marijuana — as they were traveling through Hancock County.
The drugs had an estimated street value near $60,000. The men told police they were driving from California to Dayton, Ohio, to deliver the cartridges, where they would sell for as much as $25 each.
The two suspects, facing felony charges, were taken to the Hancock County Jail. They were identified as Trendon Dunn, 24, Van Nuys, California; and Saul Torres, 22, Burbank, California.
They were driving through Hancock County on Interstate 70 when they were pulled over Friday by an Indiana State Police trooper for failing to signal properly.
When the trooper approached the car, he could smell marijuana, he said. The trooper and another who arrived on the scene searched their rented car, where they found three boxes containing the vapor cartridges.
The driver of the car, Dunn, said he was paid a couple of thousand dollars to transport the cartridges,
The vapor cartridges were commercially made and were made up of different flavors, according to a report. The cartridges packaging stated they weighed 1 gram. On the back was the “nutritional” value listing tetrahydrocannabinol or THC, the psychoactive agent in marijuana, as an ingredient.
Vaping marijuana has been gaining in popularity, according to a report by NBC News in November. Vaping leads to a more powerful high and a much higher blood concentration of THC than smoking, the report said. It also leads to heightened side effects, such as paranoia, vomiting, anxiety and hallucinations, the report said.
The two men faces charges of dealing a controlled substance and possession of a controlled substance, both Level 5 felonies.
