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Two men accused of illegal dumping, meth possession

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Two men accused of illegal dumping, meth possession
Branden Wiley and David Santos (PCSO)

Two Casa Grande men are facing drug charges after their arrest Tuesday in the City of Maricopa.

Branden Wiley, 39, and David Santos, 32, were charged with possession of dangerous drugs and drug paraphernalia after a police officer contacted them for illegal dumping in Homestead, police said.

Around 2 a.m., a Maricopa police officer noticed a Ford F-150 driving around homes still under construction, stopping in front of several dumpsters used by the builders. Two males were seen getting out of the truck and allegedly started throwing items from the truck bed into the dumpsters, police said.

When contacted by police, the two men identified each other as Wiley and Santos. They allegedly kept discarding items into the dumpsters until ordered to stop by the officer. When questioned about any illegal items in the vehicle, the two men seemed nervous, and Santos would only look at the ground. Wiley denied permission for the officer to search his vehicle, according to the police report.

A K-9 unit was requested to assist on scene. K-9 Murphy performed a search around the vehicle and alerted officers to something on the front left side of the pickup truck. A full search of the vehicle led to the discovery of a “torch lighter” in the center console and a small Ziploc bag of crystallized white substance in an overhead compartment. The substance tested positive for methamphetamine, police said.

Wiley and Santos claimed the meth was not theirs and continued to deny ownership of the items.

Both men were booked into Pinal County Jail.