Man suspected of smuggling almost 150 pounds of meth caught at checkpoint

TEMECULA - A 55-year-old man allegedly caught hauling close to 150 pounds of methamphetamine in his pickup truck near Temecula was being held Tuesday, Sept. 10 in lieu of $1 million bail.

Robert Park Walker was arrested by U.S. Border Patrol agents after he was stopped along northbound Interstate 15, leaving San Diego County and just entering Riverside County.

According to Agent Theron Francisco, agents spotted Walker's 2007 Ford F-150 on the freeway shortly after 9 p.m. Sunday and signaled the driver to pull over at the Border Patrol checkpoint, based on suspicions the pickup might be a smuggling vehicle.

A K9 team conducted a search of the Ford, and the service dog quickly alerted to the presence of drugs, Francisco said.

Agents initiated a search and allegedly located 33 bundles of meth, weighing 144 pounds, stuffed inside the vehicle's wood paneling, according to Francisco. He said the street value was estimated to be $330,640.

Walker was arrested without incident and booked into the Byrd Detention Center in Murrieta on suspicion of drug smuggling and being in possession of more than 40 pounds of controlled substances.

The Border Patrol's San Diego sector, which encompasses southwest Riverside County, has seized a total 3,464 pounds of meth valued at $7.97 million since last Oct. 1, according to Francisco.