Carbon Metro Drug Task Force Press Release
The Utah Narcotic Officers Association hosted its 26th annual conference in Mesquite, Nev. on Aug. 22-24. The conference provides high-quality training for law enforcement officials that investigate narcotic and illegal drug use crimes. Current and former members of the Carbon Metro Drug Task Force, along with several Carbon County Sheriff’s Office deputies and Price City Police Department officers, attended this year’s event.
Each year, UNOA recognizes members of law enforcement that have contributed significantly to their communities by battling drug crimes. This year, several awards were presented to members of Carbon County law enforcement.
Price City Police Sgt. Stephen Regruto along with Carbon County Sheriff’s Deputy Mike Adams each received a Citation of Honor for their instrumental roles in building cases against two local notorious drug dealers. A myriad of investigative techniques was utilized, thus leading to several search warrants. Their efforts resulted in the seizure of significant quantities of a variety of illegal narcotics, tens of thousands of dollars in drug money and over a dozen firearms.
Regruto and Adams coordinated their investigative efforts with the Salt Lake City Drug Enforcement Administration Metro Narcotics Task Force, Carbon County Sheriff’s Office SWAT team and all Carbon County law enforcement agencies to successfully apprehend and federally convict both drug dealers who are serving 7.5 and 10 years in federal prison. While serving at the task force, Regruto and Adams conducted over 350 individual drug investigations in Carbon County, contributing significantly to the safety of citizens.
While building a case against a reputed major drug dealer for southeastern Utah, Regruto and Adams enlisted the help of Special Agent Christian Mickelsen of the Salt Lake City DEA Metro Narcotics Task Force. Mickelsen was able to review the Carbon Metro Drug Task Force case work, effectively present it to the United States Attorney General’s Office and was part of the team that caused the investigations regarding both suspects to be federally prosecuted.
Mickelsen was also vitally involved in coordinating ongoing investigative efforts that ultimately involved most Carbon County law enforcement agencies, as well as DEA and Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms. Mickelsen was also presented with a Citation of Honor at the UNOA conference for his cooperation with one of the smaller drug task force units in the state. His efforts were dramatically successful in Carbon County and contributed to the well-being and security of the community.
Carbon County Sheriff’s Deputy Brandon Wilson was awarded a Citation of Honor by the UNOA as well. Wilson assisted task force agents with an intensive search of a residence that was the result of a search warrant on Jan. 16, 2016. Wilson, who was then a rookie deputy, detected expertly crafted, nearly hidden latches built into a load bearing wall. His keen eye detected anomalies in the construction of the wall and upon further investigation, he was rewarded with the discovery of a sophisticated set of hidden shelves within the wall, containing numerous containers with significant quantities of various kinds of drugs. Wilson’s contribution to the search resulted in the major success of this particular search warrant.
During the execution of this search warrant, Carbon County Sheriff’s SWAT team was deployed. Intelligence generated by the investigating agents indicated that the home was equipped with surveillance, barricaded entries, a variety of weapons and a suspect who was known to have a threatening temperament towards law enforcement. The SWAT team formulated a plan that was initiated, catching the suspect by total surprise.
The SWAT team has assisted the drug task force numerous times while serving no-knock search warrants. For their contribution to the battle against drugs, SWAT Commander Sgt. Rick Adams received a Special Agency Award on behalf of the entire SWAT team at the UNOA conference.
Finally, Price City Police Captain Bill Barnes received a Citation of Honor presented by the UNOA. Barnes serves as the task force commander and has done so for approximately five years. During this time, the task force has removed significant amounts of illegal drugs from the streets of Carbon County.
In the past year, the task force has worked closely with every law enforcement agency in Carbon County along with the DEA, FBI and Homeland Security. The unified effort between agencies has resulted in a strong, successful partnership that will strongly benefit the community.
