LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A 19-year-old man faces felony charges after a five-week investigation into the sale of THC vapes to minors, according to the Bullhead City (Arizona) Police Department.
Matthew Felix Swaim was taken into custody during a traffic stop near Oliver Drive and Patillo Drive in Bullhead City. On Wednesday night, officers served a search warrant at Swaim’s residence in the 400 block of Santa Maria Road, where items “consistent with the sales and distribution of THC vapes” were seized, according to police.
Police said they also found a handgun and counterfeit money at the residence.
Bullhead City’s Community Oriented Policing Section (COPS) initiated an investigation in January after reports that someone was selling vapes to school children. The COPS team identified Swaim as a suspect with the assistance of narcotics detectives and school officials.
The THC vapes were recently seized at a junior high school and high schools in the area. THC is the active ingredient in marijuana.
Swaim was booked into the Mohave County Jail in Kingman, where he faces charges described as “drug offenses involving minors, possession of marijuana for sale, possession of drug paraphernalia, use of wire communication or electronic communication for drug transactions, forgery, and misconduct involving weapons,” according to information released by police.
Bullhead City is a community of about 43,000 people on the Arizona side of the Colorado River, about 100 miles southeast of Las Vegas.
