BARTON COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Barton County are investigating two suspects on drug charges and looking for two others.
Just after 3p.m. Wednesday, Detective Adam Hales with the Great Bend Police Department observed a suspicious vehicle circling the area around Great Bend high school, according to a media release.
A vehicle fitting this description was the subject of an earlier tip which indicated it might be involved in dealing drugs.
Detective Hales performed a traffic stop on the vehicle due to a traffic infraction.
When the vehicle stopped, three passengers fled the vehicle. The driver (a juvenile) remained with the vehicle and was taken into custody by Detective Hales.
Other officers responded to the area. Officer Joel Hamlin located one of the passengers (later identified as Luis Sepulveda, age 18, and followed him to a house in the 1700 block of Williams Street.
Barton County Sheriff’s Detective Sharon Wondra was also in the area at this time and discovered that Sepulveda was hiding in a shed behind one of the houses. She and Officer Hamlin took Sepulveda into custody.
Officers later discovered Sepulveda’s wallet in the shed. It contained a large quantity of cash and smelled strongly of marijuana.
Sepulveda was booked into jail on charges of Possession of Drugs and Obstruction of Justice. The juvenile was charged with Possession of Drugs.
Intelligence obtained by officers prior to the traffic stop indicated that one of the subjects might be in possession of a handgun, and items found in the car led officers to believe that this information was correct.
While officers were searching the area for the remaining two passengers, Dispatch received another call for service indicating that a woman had been robbed in the parking lot.
When officers responded, they discovered that the female victim had been approached by a man who pushed her and took a container she was holding in her hands. He then ran away toward the north.
The two subjects that fled from the car stop were described as males. One was wearing a gray hoodie style sweatshirt. The other was wearing a black hoodie style sweatshirt. Officers are unsure of their race or other further descriptors.
The subject from the parking lot robbery incident is described as a Hispanic male wearing a red hoodie style sweatshirt.
Police ask that anyone with information about any of the aforementioned subjects contact the Department at (620)793-4120 or Crimestoppers at (620) 792-1300. Crimestoppers lets you give information anonymously and gives cash rewards for information that leads to an arrest.