Members of a Kane Kane County Sheriff’s Office Special Operations Unit charged a North Carolina man Thursday with trafficking and intent to deliver “15 large garbage bags” of cannabis with an estimated street value of $3.2 million dollars.

According to a Sheriff’s Office press release, members of the special unit were patrolling the parking lot of the Super 8 Hotel, 115 Arrowhead Drive, Hampshire, at around 8 a.m. Thursday, when deputies spoke to a male subject later identified as Levi Blalock.

The release said Blalock gave “conflicting stories of what he was doing in the area,” and a narcotics detection K9 gave a positive indication of narcotics in Blalock’s 2015 GMC Sierra pickup truck.

A search of the vehicle revealed 15 large garbage bags in the enclosed bed of the truck, the release said. Inside the bags were 296 smaller bags containing about 354 pounds of high-grade cannabis. Deputies also seized about $3,100 cash.

Blalock, 36, of Moncure, NC, is being held at the Kane County Adult Corrections Center awaiting bond call.

The Kane County State’s Attorney’s office authorized the following felony charges against Blalock:

• Cannabis Trafficking
• Unlawful Possession of Cannabis with the intent to deliver
• Unlawful Possession of Cannabis

The charges against Blalock are not proof of guilt. A defendant is presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial in which it is the State’s burden to prove his or her guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Levi Blalock

SOURCE: Kane County Sheriff’s Office press release