- Jeremy Aiken is charged with fentanyl trafficking after his arrest in Weber County in a sting operation.
- He allegedly agreed to sell an informant 5,000 fentanyl pills.
- Another man had allegedly driven Aiken to the location and is charged with failing to respond to an officer's signal to stop.
OGDEN — A West Jordan man has been charged with drug trafficking after allegedly attempting to sell fentanyl as part of a sting operation.
Jeremy Gene Aiken, 51, is charged with trafficking of fentanyl, a first-degree felony, after allegedly agreeing to sell 5,000 fentanyl pills for $3.50 each as part of a deal set up, unbeknownst to him, by the Weber-Morgan Narcotics Strike Force.
He is also charged with interfering with an arresting officer and possession of marijuana, class B misdemeanors.
Riania Tino Vaka, 32, of Salt Lake City, the alleged driver of the vehicle Aiken traveled in to the site of the bust, is charged with failure to respond to officers' signals to stop, a third-degree felony. He refused officers' commands to exit the car as the arrest unfolded, according to charging documents, prompting the responding officers to fire a "less-lethal round" into his leg.
Vaka is also charged with possession of methamphetamine, a class A misdemeanor, and two class B misdemeanors, interfering with an arresting officer and possession of drug paraphernalia.
The strike force set up the drug deal by phone with Aiken on April 10 assisted by a confidential informant. At the meetup location in Weber County, Aiken was arrested after exiting the vehicle and walking to where the informant was located.
"We later located a large amount of blue suspected fentanyl pills inside a clear plastic bag inside a paper bag on the floorboard on the passenger side," the charges state. Vaka allegedly admitted he had traveled to the location to sell the pills "to an unknown person." Officials also found a bag of marijuana near the pills.
Simultaneous to Vaka's arrest, agents on the scene boxed in the Vaka vehicle and identified themselves as law enforcement officers, but Vaka, still in the car, allegedly tried several times "to push" one of the officer's cars out of the way. The officers fired multiple "less-lethal" rounds at his car.
"(Vaka) opened the driver's door and would put his left leg out and then climb back into the vehicle. Less-lethal round was fired into his left lower leg," according to the charges. Ultimately, he exited the vehicle and was placed in handcuffs.
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Tim Vandenack
