A 41-year-old Texas man faces up to 20 years in prison after being taken into custody on felony drug possession charges on the afternoon of May 5. An officer with the Pinehurst Police Department is said to have apprehended the man on an outstanding warrant after responding to a call about a suspicious vehicle. Reports indicate that he is being held at an area detention facility and his bond has been set at $25,000.
According to a police report, the PPD officer located the car that had prompted the suspicious vehicle call parked near some woods in the vicinity of Bayou Bend and Somerset Street. The officer says that he took the man behind the wheel into custody after a background check revealed that an arrest warrant had been issued for him in Orange Municipal Court.
The officer says that he then performed an inventory of the man’s vehicle. During this inventory, the officer claims to have discovered a plastic bag on the front passenger seat containing a white substance that the officer believed to be crystal methamphetamine. The officer says he found quantities of what appeared to be the same substance concealed inside a latex glove that had been placed inside an open box of Cheetos corn snacks. Several items of what appeared to be drug paraphernalia, such as a glass pipe, a propane torch, a portable scale and several plastic bags, are also alleged to have been discovered during the search.
Experienced criminal law attorneys may urge their clients not to keep items that could incriminate them in their cars. While police officers may only search vehicles without a warrant in certain very specific situations, they are permitted to inventory the contents of impounded vehicles even when they have no reason to believe that evidence of a crime will be discovered.
Source: ABC Columbia, “Man arrested for drug possession, faces 2-20 years”, May 7, 2018