Fayette County Sheriff Keith Korenek reported on the morning of April 23 around 11 a.m., Drug Interdiction Investigator David Smith conducted a traffic stop on a 2019 Buick Encore passenger car on Interstate-10 near the Fayette/Gonzales County line for a traffic violation.
Upon contact with the driver and passenger, many criminal indicators were observed. Consent to search the vehicle was given to Smith who located a small bag of cocaine behind the glove box, black tar heroin, and a meth pipe under the passenger’s seat.
Smith also located seven bundles of cash hidden in the driver’s side rear quarter panel of the passenger car wrapped consistent with drug money in saran wrap with rubber bands that neither occupant claimed.
Arrested were Tracy Vega, 50, and Edward Clinton Smith, 53, both of San Antonio. Investigator Smith transported both subjects to the Dan R. Beck Justice Center in La Grange where the passenger was booked in jail for Money Laundering and Felony Possession of a Controlled Substance. The driver, who also is charged with Money Laundering and Felony Possession of a Controlled Substance, was transported to Smithville Ascension Seton Hospital after he admitted using two grams of heroin prior to the traffic stop. The total amount of money seized was $67,695.
