Coalinga man accused of fleeing traffic stop with more than 2 pounds of fentanyl in Nipomo
May 19—A Coalinga man was arrested on suspicion of drug charges last month after he fled a traffic stop along Highway 101 and was later apprehended in Nipomo with more than two pounds of fentanyl, according to sheriff's officials Wednesday.
San Luis Obispo County sheriff's deputies arrested Julian Ackerman, 31, on April 22 in a field near East Branch Street in Nipomo with a backpack containing fentanyl, according to spokesman Tony Cipolla.
Cipolla said members of the Sheriff's Gang Task Force had been tracking Ackerman, a wanted felon, who was suspected of driving into San Luis Obispo County with a large amount of narcotics. Officials did not say how long they had been tracking Ackerman.
On April 22, deputies spotted a car driven by a female, identified as 20-year-old Zoe Rutledge, of Nipomo, and Ackerman as the passenger, according to Cipolla.
Deputies stopped the vehicle on the northbound side of Highway 101, just north of Highway 166 at about 10:30 p.m. As they questioned the occupants of the car, it fled the scene and exited highway at Tefft Street in Nipomo, according to Cipolla.
The vehicle was located near East Tefft and Beechnut streets by deputies, who detained Rutledge. Ackerman allegedly fled the vehicle.
The Sheriff's Special Operations Unit began searching for Ackerman, who was spotted in the front yard of a house before he ran into the field near East Branch Street where he was arrested.
Deputies allegedly located a backpack in the field and identified it as the same backpack spotted in the vehicle Ackerman was in, according to Cipolla.
Inside the backpack, Cipolla said deputies found approximately 2.2 pounds of fentanyl, which is estimated to be worth approximately $25,000. If sold at $125 a gram, the fentanyl would be worth $125,000, according to Cipolla.
Ackerman was arrested on suspicion of possessing and transporting a controlled substance for sale, and resisting a peace officer, while Rutledge was arrested for attempting to evade a peace officer in a reckless manner.
The Drug Enforcement Administration said that 2 milligrams of fentanyl is a lethal dose and in total, the amount located in the backpack contained approximately 500,000 lethal doses, according to Cipolla.