When I started working at Charlie’s Car Wash on Metcalf in November, I thought it would just be a normal job where you are spraying down cars, helping people who come to the wash, or cleaning out vehicles. But lately there have been sketchy things happening that a lot of people wouldn’t expect. Customers pull up to the car wash and ask employees, including myself, if they would like to sell illegal drugs to other customers at the car wash. This very situation happened to me in January and another co-worker of mine as recently as March. Supervisors at Charlie’s did address the problem by saying if it happened again to contact a manager and they would get the person’s license plate number and call the authorities. It hasn’t happened again, to my knowledge.

This isn’t the only car wash that’s been involved. In the KC area there have been a few drug busts that have been at car washes where people have been shot and killed. Police have also been finding out that some car wash owners have been trafficking and selling controlled substances at car washes. Police have also found out that employees will sometimes bring drugs that they have and sell them to other employees that they work with and customers who may have reached out to them beforehand.

Edwar Salazar-Belleda has been sentenced to 102 months in prison for involvement in a Kansas City metro based drug trafficking ring with ties to Mexico. Over the investigation, more than 150 kilograms of meth, more than eleven ounces of heroin, marijuana, and numerous firearms.

Eric Womack, a 30 year old, has been charged with murder in a shooting at a car wash on Independence Ave. in Kansas City, Missouri. Womack killed Anthony Clark during what was supposed to have been a drug deal. Police found Clark shot to death inside a vehicle that was parked at the car wash.

After I heard about the incidents in Independence and Kansas City, I was surprised that it could also happen to me. Who knew this would happen at a car wash in our area where students work and a variety of Blue Valley students frequently wash their car. When I was approached, I was shocked because I never expected to be asked to sell methamphetamines and cocaine. This has changed my perspective on how I see people who come through Charlie’s because I don’t know what to expect from the customers.