Douglas K-9 sniffs out 181 grams of meth in traffic stop

Douglas County’s K-9s scored another big methamphetamine seizure during a traffic stop last week.

Christopher George Zahradnik, 37, was pulled over on May 20 on Highway 395 near Stockyard Road.

A deputy reported Zahradnik was in the fast lane pacing another vehicle at 60-65 mph and that the Toyota Tundra’s window tinting prevented him from seeing the driver.

During the stop Sheriff’s K-9 Riko took a sniff and alerted, leading deputies to find 181 grams of methamphetamine separated into small packages and secured with rubber bands and seven glass pipes, according to court documents.

Zahradnik is facing a felony charge of low-level trafficking and is scheduled to appear in East Fork Justice Court next week. He is represented by attorney John Malone.

A man by the same name is listed on the Secretary of State’s Office as the manager of Illogic Transportation is in custody facing a charge of trafficking in methamphetamine.

The dogs were key in two methamphetamine seizures earlier this month that with last week’s makes for around pa pound of the illicit drug

• Bail was set at $10,000 bondable for a California man accused of raiding a Gardnerville cluster box while in Carson Valley last spring is in Douglas County custody on multiple felonies.

Anthony Joseph Castro, 26, was brought back to Douglas County on Monday in connection with the May 2020 thefts.

He faces three counts of felony burglary, three counts of check fraud and two counts of theft.

According to court documents, someone took checks out of three envelopes and altered them. One check was changed from $25 to $680, another was increased from $93 to $933, while the payee was changed on another check written for an insurance payment.

In all three cases, investigators found that someone using Castro’s drivers license cashed the checks.

A check revealed that Castro rented a vehicle in Los Angeles between May 21 and June 1. Investigators reviewing video spotted an indication the man who cashed the checks was driving a rental vehicle.

The warrant for his arrest was issued on Sept. 28, 2020.

Castro said he was arrested in Southern California on the warrant six weeks ago.

• A South Lake Tahoe man was arrested Saturday while riding a Harley Davidson that had been reported stolen from a California dealership.

John Robert Liska, 42, was stopped on Highway 50 near Elk Grove in Roundhill and taken into custody at gunpoint.

He was booked into Douglas County Jail on the possession of a stolen vehicle and a controlled substance, in addition to 11 misdemeanors

Liska was scheduled to appear in Tahoe Township Justice Court on Tuesday.

Liska was sentenced to 12-34 months in prison in October 2017 after he tried to pass a bad check at the Lakeside Inn. He also had methamphetamine and heroin. He was paroled in 2018.