Deputies raid Samish Way motel room, arrest 2 on drug charges

Deputies investigating a robbery conspiracy ended up busting two people at a Samish Way motel for possession of methamphetamine and stolen credit cards, according to the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies conducted a traffic stop on a man who had several outstanding warrants early Tuesday morning, Dec. 22. The driver was arrested, but he tipped the deputies off about a home invasion robbery planned for a house on East Smith Road.

According to the driver, whose name was not released by the sheriff’s office, a man named Larry Lee Major, 42, planned a robbery at the house on Smith Road. The occupants of that house, the driver said, had large quantities of meth.

The man told deputies that Major was staying in a room at the Motel 6 on Samish Way, and that it was a spot where he and others used meth. Major, he told deputies, had a handgun, stolen credit cards and a stolen passport in the room. He said a woman named Kasandra Cruz, 28, also was in the room while the robbery was being discussed, according to the sheriff’s office.

Deputies got a search warrant for the room where Major and Cruz were reportedly staying. Major tried to escape the motel on Tuesday, the sheriff’s office said, but was taken into custody along with Cruz.

Deputies found a small quantity of meth, a scale with residue, pipes used to smoke meth, stolen credit cards and a passport. Major and Cruz were booked into jail on suspicion of four counts possession of stolen property in the second degree and possession of methamphetamine. No handgun was found.

The robbery investigation is ongoing, the sheriff’s office said.

In March 2014, Major was sentenced to more than three years in prison for first-degree robbery and reckless driving. He was released from prison earlier this month, on Dec. 7. Charges from that case state Major, in July 2013, held a gun to a man’s head and hit him with the barrel while he and others stole money and marijuana from the house.

As part of his sentence, Major was put on Department of Corrections probation for 18 months following his release from prison.

Cruz has convictions of forgery, first-degree criminal impersonation and unlawful delivery of meth.

This story was originally published December 23, 2015 at 5:02 PM with the headline "Deputies raid Samish Way motel room, arrest 2 on drug charges."