Cops: California man stopped with $150K worth of marijuana in vehicle

A California man was arrested with nearly 50 pounds of marijuana in his vehicle Friday afternoon in north suburban Fox Lake.

The confiscated cannabis has a street value of over $150,000, according to the Lake County sheriff’s office.

Sheriff’s deputies pulled the vehicle over about 12:30 p.m. on Route 59 near Devlin Road, Fox Lake, for having no visible registration, police said.

While officers were speaking to the driver, they “smelled the odor of cannabis,” searched the vehicle and “located over 49 pounds, over 22,000 grams, of packaged cannabis, police said.

Eusvaldo Valenzuela-Gaxiola, 39, of Tulare, California, also had cocaine when he was arrested and taken to the Lake County Jail, police said.

He was charged with cannabis trafficking and delivery of cannabis, both Class X felonies; felony counts of possession of cannabis and possession of a controlled substance; and two related misdemeanors, police said.

Valenzuela-Gaxiola is being held on $2 million bond, and is next due in court Aug. 28 in Waukegan.