Cops: Driver Had Severed Finger In His Wallet
Digit discovered during late-night Utah traffic stop
FEBRUARY 11--A Utah motorist with 11 fingers was arrested following a traffic stop Wednesday evening, according to a court filing.
The spare digit was not on one of Victor Chavez-Zuniga’s hands, but rather in the 27-year-old’s wallet, where it was “beginning to turn green and 
the fingernail appeared decayed.”
Chavez-Zuniga was driving about two miles from his residence in Orem, a city about 45 miles south of Salt Lake City, when a cop pulled him over around 10 PM for a broken headlight.
When a computer check turned up “several active warrants,” Chavez-Zuniga was handcuffed and placed in custody. Two of the warrants stemmed from Chavez-Zuniga’s failure to appear in court for a hearing related to a prior felony fraud conviction.
During a search of Chavez-Zuniga, police found the defendant’s wallet, which contained a “severed finger in a cloth wrap.” The finger, a probable cause affidavit states, had “what appeared to be puss and blood on it” and was “beginning to turn green and the fingernail appeared to be decayed.”
Additionally, when officers “removed the finger from the cloth wrap a noticeable foul smell was observed,” reported Officer Bryce Mondragon.
The court filing does not address why Chavez-Zuniga had a severed finger in his wallet, nor does it identify to whom the finger was previously attached.
Pictured above in a 2018 mug shot, Chavez-Zuniga was booked into the Utah County jail, where he is being held on the outstanding warrants and a new misdemeanor charge of abuse or desecration of a dead human body. (1 page)
