(COLORADO SPRINGS) — The El Paso County Sheriff’s Department (EPSO) has confirmed its participation in an Aug. 18 Beat Auto Theft Through Law Enforcement (BATTLE) operation that resulted in a major narcotics arrest.
Just after 5 p.m. on Aug. 18, the EPSO Investigations Division spotted a Chevrolet Sonic along I-25 near downtown Colorado Springs. According to EPSO, what alerted them was a “fictitious temporary license plate,” which had expired in March 2024 and was not registered to the vehicle.
Deputies pulled the car over for a traffic stop and identified the driver as 26-year-old Jorge Fidel Hernandez-Ornelas, who was unable to provide a driver’s license. The report states that deputies noted Ornelas’ statements were inconsistent, prompting a further search with K-9 assistance.
EPSO K-9 Styx performed an open-air search around the car, in which he alerted the deputies to the presence of narcotics from within the vehicle. A subsequent search revealed it had been modified to hide and transport large amounts of illegal drugs. Hernandez-Ornelas admitted to having four pounds of methamphetamine in the car, according to deputies…