KANSAS CITY, Mo. — An alert drug dog and observant officers took an interest in a bus passenger who was seen having difficulty walking at the Greyhound bus terminal at 11th and Troost on January 20.
While Sergio Arturo Gonzalez-Garcia, 29, was waiting to claim his luggage outside of a bus, a drug detection dog pulled its handler in the direction Gonzalez-Garcia, prompting him to walk into the terminal.
When a detective also noticed that Gonzalez-Garcia’s athletic shoes didn’t bend while he was walking, he questioned him and asked to search him. The search yielded a bundle of heroin inside each of his shoes that in total weighed more than two pounds but fell just short of a kilogram (993 grams).
The difference in seven grams shifts Gonzalez-Garcia’s potential penalties from a fine of between $10-$50 million to a possible fine of between $5-$25 million. It also reduces the potential imprisonment from 10 years up to life to a potential of between 5 and 40 years according to the Congressional Research Service.
Gonzalez-Garcia has been charged with possessing heroin with the intent to distribute according a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Gonzalez-Garcia reportedly told police that he was transporting heroin from Los Angeles to St. Louis.
He remains in federal custody, no court dates have been announced at this time.