The Ohio State Highway Patrol received called about a vehicle driving erratically down Interstate 75. Troopers located the vehicle described by callers and pulled the vehicle over for a violation of marked lanes. This seemingly simple traffic stop ended up with the driver facing drug charges.
Troopers indicated that they believed the driver to have been visually impaired at the time of the traffic stop. In what way he was allegedly visually impaired was not reported. As a result of the stop, troopers conducted a search of the driver’s vehicle. It was during that search that drugs were found in the car.
Troopers seized approximately 17,260 doses of prescription medications including Oxycodone, Methadone, Suboxene strips, Hydrocodone and Alprazolam with a current street value of nearly $338,000. The Ohio State Highway Patrol says that this is the largest seizure of prescription medications it has ever seen. In addition to a charge for being visually impaired, the driver is also facing other traffic violations in connection with the initial stop.
The drug charges include trafficking in and possession of Schedule II substances. As this man prepares his criminal defense, it may be of benefit to him to review the circumstances surrounding the traffic stop and subsequent search of his vehicle. If the police did not have an adequate reason for searching his vehicle, the search and its product could be thrown out. If that was to happen, the case against this man would quickly crumble. A review of the police reports and possibly dash cam video from the patrol car or cars may be of assistance in ascertaining just how the search was conducted.
Source: St. Clair Shores, MI Patch, “Shores Man Arrested in Ohio With $300K in Prescription Pills,” Edward Cardenas, June 23, 2013