Police: Man’s wallet was coked up

ASPEN For the second time in a month, Aspen police have arrested a man on suspicion of having cocaine stashed in a wallet he lost.According to Aspen police officer Linda Consuegra, a wallet left on a Roaring Fork Transportation Authority bus turned up at the police station July 4, and police found four bindles of cocaine inside the wallet. Combined, the bindles held more than one gram of the substance, police said.Authorities contacted the owner of the wallet, Carbondale resident Jose Fidel Orellana, 44. When Orellana arrived at the police station Tuesday to claim his wallet, police interrogated him and later arrested him on charges of felony possession of cocaine in the amount of more than one gram, a Schedule II offense.In a similar case on June 25, Anderson Silva admitted to Aspen police the possession of a bindle of cocaine found in the wallet he lost. That case is pending.Orellana, meanwhile, was released from jail Tuesday on a $5,000 bond.Consuegra said the wallet contained a valid Minnesota license, and Aspen police followed a paper trail, leading to contact with Orellana.”I called him and said, ‘We have your wallet.’ He said, ‘I’ll be right over,'” Consuegra said.But, Consuegra said, when police began questioning Orellana, he became nervous.”He broke out in sweats. He almost fainted. He never admitted it was his. He never denied it, either,” Consuegra said. During the interview, Consuegra said Orellana’s shirt became soaked in sweat, and police called an ambulance to have him checked out. They didn’t send him to the hospital.Consuegra said Orellana brought his El Salvadorian passport to prove his identity; however, the birth date on the passport and his valid Minnesota license didn’t match.Orellana told police he was in the U.S. illegally, but Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials did not place a hold on him, Consuegra said. “We didn’t feel comfortable to let him go,” Consuegra added, so police took Orellana into custody.Charles Agar’s e-mail address is cagar@aspentimes.com