PORT ANGELES — A Port Hadlock man was arrested on investigation of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute after a routine traffic stop.
Cory T. Blake, 38, who has a criminal history of first-degree burglary and first-degree robbery charges, each with firearm enhancements, was arrested early Friday morning following the traffic stop at 2:56 a.m. in the 2700 block of East U.S. Highway 101, the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office said.
Blake remained in the Clallam County jail on Monday afternoon.
During the traffic stop, Clallam County Sheriff’s Deputy Cody Brooks observed a smoking device used to ingest controlled substances and consulted with detectives from the Olympic Peninsula Narcotics Enforcement Team (OPNET) to apply for a search warrant, the sheriff’s office said.
A narcotics drug detection K-9 unit was summoned and alerted to the presence of narcotics at the vehicle, the sheriff’s office said.
The search warrant resulted in the location of 27 grams of marijuana and a marijuana smoking device. Since the K-9 unit is trained to alert on controlled substances that are not marijuana, deputies determined it was likely that narcotics had been in the vehicle prior to the traffic stop, the sheriff’s office said.
Deputies retraced Blake’s travel before the stop and located a blue and orange backpack lying on the shoulder of the road, the sheriff’s office said. Deputies determined it had recently been placed there because everything around it had dew moisture except for the backpack, the sheriff’s office added.
The K-9 unit alerted to the presence of controlled substances within the backpack, and after deputies applied for a search warrant, they found 197.29 grams of suspected fentanyl pills in several packages and 140.72 grams of suspected methamphetamine in several packages, the sheriff’s office said.
Assistance was provided by OPNET and the Poulsbo Police Department, which provided the narcotics detection K-9 team, the sheriff’s office said.
