Bail is set at $20,000 for a man who allegedly had a gallon-sized bag full of meth in his car when he was arrested for driving with a suspended license in Napavine on Saturday.
“The baggie was so big, the digital scale at the police department could not weigh it,” the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office said in charging documents filed in Lewis County Superior Court on Monday.
The defendant, David Lee Sofianos, 54, of Longview, was arrested on Saturday after a Napavine Police Department officer on a routine patrol determined that Sofianos, who was parking a Mercedes at a gas station in Napavine, was driving with a suspended license, according to court documents.
When questioned, he allegedly admitted to driving without a license “but said he was working for a Cowlitz County detective and needed to be able to get around,” according to court documents.
The officer reportedly found a small baggie of meth in Sofianos’ pocket when he was arrested for driving with a suspended license.
Sofianos then allegedly agreed to allow the officer to search his Mercedes, where the officer found the large bag of meth.
When asked about the meth, Sofianos allegedly “said he sells narcotics to ‘survive,’” according to court documents.
A search of Sofianos’ residence, which Sofianos allegedly consented to, yielded “a large amount of unused baggies Sofianos used for packaging methamphetamine,” according to court documents.
Sofianos allegedly told the officer that he is a “middleman” of a drug operation, saying “he introduces people to his suppliers, and he receives a cut.”
Sofianos was charged Monday, March 10, in Lewis County Superior Court with one count of possession of a controlled substance with intent to manufacture or deliver.
His criminal history includes two convictions on the same charge, one from 2016 and one from 2019, according to court documents.
Arraignment is scheduled for Thursday, March 20.
