By Moses Leos III
One man and a woman were arrested on Dec. 9 after they attempted to tamper with evidence following two drug deals in two different parking lots in Kyle.
Authorities with the Hays County Narcotics Task Force (HCNTF) arrested known drug dealer Bertin Castillo-Nakamura, 23, of Kyle, on 12 charges. Those include three charges of manufacture/delivery of a controlled substance, tampering or fabricating physical evidence, money laundering and resisting arrest. Castillo-Nakamura is being held in the Hays County Jail on $472,000 bond.
Authorities also arrested Iris Monique Stokes, 23, of Kyle, who was charged with tampering with physical evidence, a third degree felony, possession of marijuana and interfering with public duty, both Class B misdemeanors. Stokes is being held in the Hays County Jail on $20,000 bond.
According to a HCNTF arrest affidavit, a detective was conducting surveillance on Castillo-Nakamura, who was sitting in the rear seat of a vehicle driven by Iris Monique Stokes.
Castillo-Nakamura was observed making a hand-to-hand narcotics transaction in the parking lot of the McDonald’s in Kyle. Three minutes later, Castillo-Nakamura made another drug transaction in the parking lot of the Target in Kyle.
The detective approached the vehicle and saw a bag of marijuana resting in Castillo-Nakamura lap. The detective then opened the driver’s side door and displayed his firearm in an attempt to keep Stokes from fleeing. The officer then took phones away from Castillo-Nakamura, as they allegedly contained information relating to his narcotics sales.
But according to the affidavit, Castillo-Nakamura began to tell Stokes to take the phones away from the detective as he tried to slide them over the roof of the vehicle.
Stokes was able to acquire one phone. During that time, Castillo-Nakamura was pushing the detective away from the car to help Stokes take the phones away, while also preventing the officer from handcuffing him.
After the detective placed Castillo-Nakamura under arrest, a search of his pockets found he had a distributable amount of Alprazolam, a controlled substance. Further investigation found a scale with cocaine residue inside of the vehicle.
