A Nathrop resident was arrested Wednesday evening after members of the Chaffee County Drug Task Force executed a search warrant at a home in the Chalk Creek area that turned up a quantity of methamphetamine and cash.  The man, Luke Anthony Scott Determan, 25, was jailed on felony drug charges.  Bond was set at $10,000.

The arrest came after an undercover task force operation developed credible information that Determan had sold methamphetamine at the house and was in possession of a quantity of the drug.  The transaction allegedly took place at the home of Determan’s relatives located on CR 291in Chalk Creek. 

Armed with a search warrant for the premises and an arrest warrant for Determan, lawmen discovered Determan in a garage located at the home of another relative nearby.  He was taken into custody without incident.  Officers then searched the home at which the transaction allegedly occurred.  Inside, they found three bags of methamphetamine, drug paraphernalia, and cash.  Total amount of the drug seized during the operation was just under ten grams with an estimated street value of approximately $1,000. 

Two hundred dollars and paraphernalia were turned up during the search of the house and seized as evidence.  Another five hundred dollars in cash located in Determan’s wallet could not be seized by officers due to restrictions placed in the search warrant by County Court judge William Alderton.

Luke Determan is well-known to local law enforcement officers, with arrests dating from 2008. He is scheduled for trial in Chaffee County in January on vehicular eluding charges stemming from an incident last April during which authorities allege Determan, driving with a revoked driver’s license, led them on a pursuit in north Chaffee County that reached speeds of well over one hundred miles an hour.  Officers broke off the chase due to the risk it posed to other motorists.  An arrest warrant was obtained and Determan was taken into custody by El Paso County deputies in July.

Charges brought in this latest incident include unlawful distribution of a controlled substance, a level III drug felony; and unlawful possession of a controlled substance, a level IV drug felony.

The Chaffee County Drug Task Force consists of officers and deputies from the sheriff’s office, Buena Vista and Salida police departments, and the local office of the district attorney.