THE SOUND OF MUSIC: FAYETTE CO. AUTHORITIES FIND $1.2 MILLION OF COCAINE HIDDEN IN KARAOKE MACHINES

  

Fayette County Sheriff’s Deputies are apt to be more suspicious of karaoke machines moving forward, after finding cocaine inside them twice in a week’s time.

Wednesday evening, around 8:30 p.m., Drug Interdiction Investigator David Smith and Giddings Police Officer A.J. Gonzales, an approved rider, stopped a 2012 Nissan Cube on I-10 eastbound near the Flatonia exit for failing to keep a single lane.

After making contact with the driver, Smith observed nervous behavior and criminal indicators. Smith received consent to search the vehicle, where he found two karaoke machines in plain view.  Those karaoke machines, according to Fayette County Sheriff Keith Korenek, were loaded with 12 cocaine bundles that were spray foamed in the two speakers.  The bundles contained a dozen kilos of cocaine, with an estimated street value of $1.2 million.

39-year-old Estrella Elizabeth Renteria of Laredo was arrested and taken to the Dan R. Beck Justice Center, charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance.

This comes a week after two people, also from Laredo, were found in possession of $750,000 worth of cocaine, also spray foamed inside a karaoke machine. 35-year-old Sandra Mendiola Garza and 37-year-old Alifonzo Garza, Jr. were arrested last Wednesday by Fayette County Sheriff’s Deputies and charged with Felony Cocaine Possession.

Update @ 5:50 a.m. Friday: Fayette County Sheriff's Lieutenant David Beyer said the charges in the two cases are the same and are both felonies; they were just worded differently.