WEST JORDAN — A West Valley man who pleaded guilty to drug distribution last month has been arrested again for allegedly selling large amounts of black market THC vape cartridges, according to police.
Anthony Studham, 19, was arrested Wednesday for investigation of money laundering, drug distribution, forgery, marijuana possession, possession of drug paraphernalia and driving on a denied license.
Studham was using Snapchat to to sell “large amounts of THC cartridges, marijuana and THC edibles,” according to a Salt Lake County Jail booking affidavit.
A West Jordan police officer, acting in an undercover role, friended Studham on Snapchat and observed that in addition to advertising drugs, “the suspect also often displayed handguns and large sums of cash,” the affidavit states.
On Wednesday, police watched as Studham got into his Mercedes Benz and drove away. Knowing he did not have a valid license, detectives pulled him over, according to the affidavit.
A subsequent search of the vehicle turned up marijuana, “multiple THC items,” magazines for a handgun and a fake Oklahoma driver’s license, the affidavit states.
Detectives interviewed Studham, who “admitted he had no job and had paid over $30,000 in cash for his Mercedes in September. A work history check showed the suspect has not worked since the beginning of 2019,” according to the affidavit.
The arrest comes less than 11 months after Studham was charged with drug possession in 4th District Court. He took a plea in abeyance in October, pleading guilty to drug possession, a third-degree felony, and two other misdemeanor crimes. He was placed on probation for a year.
In that case, Studham was pulled over by a Utah County sheriff’s deputy in January for a traffic violation. A drug sniffing police K-9 indicated there might be narcotics in the car, and a subsequent search of the vehicle resulted in the seizure of “20 separate envelopes marked RX on them that contained marijuana-DAB and 15 e-cigarette cartridges which contained THC, buy-owe sheets, and a baggy containing marijuana,” according to charging documents.
A second person, Xavier Charles Thomas, 23, of Kearns, pleaded guilty to an amended charge of attempted drug distribution in May and was placed on two years’ probation, according to court records.
West Jordan police on Thursday said they were still investigating whether Studham is connected to a large drug-trafficking operation that was busted in September following a yearlong investigation.
The alleged ringleader of that group, Ntwydamala Christian Cook, 19, is accused of using various Snapchat accounts and the U.S. Postal Service to sell large amounts marijuana, dabs, THC cartridges, THC edibles, cocaine, acid, ecstasy and fraudulent driver’s licenses, according to police. He faces charges in 3rd District Court of being involved in a drug criminal enterprise, a first-degree felony; six counts of drug distribution, a second-degree felony; drug distribution, a third-degree felony; four counts of purchase or possession of a firearm by a restricted person, a third-degree felony; three counts of forgery, a third-degree felony; and production of a controlled substance, a third-degree felony.
The investigation into that drug trafficking ground has resulted in at least four arrests.