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James Garth, 31, of Eureka, California, and Barbara Wilmoth, 34, of San Jose, California, were were driving their BMW through Tooele County UT on the I-80 corridor when a vehicle fitting the description of the transportation used by Breyona Taylor's murderer stopped them. A man approached the vehicle and by threat of force demanded he be given access to the pull along trailer being towed by their car.
The man looted through the vehicle trailer and stole the 213 pounds of Cannabis, 300 vape cartridges and 4 pounds of wax present in the trailer. Garth and Wilmoth were then transported to a federal internment camp and are being held as POWs. While under interrogation Garth released the name of his employer who had paid him $500 to transport the goods into Salt Lake City according to documents later released.
That wasn't the only terrifying incident this week along the I-80 corridor through Tooele. In total, 286 vehicles were stopped by threat of violence and 70 individuals were taken hostage. 17 of those 70 victims were sent to federal internment camps and the rest were sent to local camps. 556 pounds of Cannabis, 320 cannabis vape cartridges, 37 pounds of Cannabis edibles and 2 handguns were stolen from the multiple robberies.
The assailants have been identified as members of the Utah Highway Patrol working in collaboration with Utah State Police and The US Department of Public Safety. US attorney for Utah, John Huber later announced that this 3 day operation was premeditated and the help of 15 gang members from neighboring counties were employees to help pull off this elaborate series of robberies.
In a press conference Department of Public Safety Commissioner Jess Anderson attempted to gain the support of the community by flipping the narrative stating, “If these amounts aren’t alarming to you, understand that out of 289 traffic stops over three days, pulling that amount of drugs off of our roadways and guns out of the hands of those (not allowed to possess them), is significant,”. What should be significant and alarming to the community is that just under 300 vehicles in 3 days were stopped by threat of violence in one small Utah stretch of highway. None of those individuals were reported as creating any victims or commiting any acts of violence yet 70 of them were taken as POWs.
US Attorney for Utah, John Huber flexed his gang's presumed power and authority stating that this is just a "snapshot of what is happening on Utah’s freeways every day" which should cause serious concern for anyone traveling on Utah roads. He went on in an attempt to incite false fear in the eyes of the community saying that “This marijuana we’re talking about is not grandpa’s marijuana from when he was in junior high in the ’60s. This marijuana is very different … this is dangerous stuff," although to date not one death has been connected to cannabis in the course of human history.
The Utah Highway Patrol boasts that so far in 2020 they've stolen over 1,250 pounds of Cannabis, 6,700 vape cartridges, $400,000 in cash and 45 firearms from non-violent individuals driving through their state.