The Hickory Daily Record
LINCOLNTON, N.C. — more than a pound of methamphetamine was seized Wednesday during what began as a routine traffic stop.
Lincoln County Sheriff’s deputies stopped a pickup truck at 9:50 a.m. in the parking lot of the Lincolnton Plaza Shopping Center on North Aspen Street to advise the driver of a burned out brake light, according to a news release from the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office.
Eloy Hernandez Hernandez, 26, of Newton was the driver of the vehicle and provided deputies with a valid registration card for the vehicle, but he did not have a valid driver’s license.
While one deputy was writing a warning for the brake light and a citation for driving without an operator’s license, another deputy obtained consent from Hernandez to search the vehicle.
The deputy found a plastic bag filled with a substance wrapped in cellophane in the rear seat area of the vehicle’s passenger side. When the deputy asked Hernandez what was inside the cellophane-wrapped package, Hernandez said he did not know.
As the deputy led Hernandez to the patrol car, Hernandez pulled away from the deputy and started to run away. Narcotics officers had already arrived at the scene and apprehended Hernandez after he fell against a parked truck. Hernandez was transported to Carolinas Medical Center-Lincolnton for treatment of a small cut on his face, the release said.
The substance in the bag tested positive for methamphetamine and weighed-in at 492 grams, just more than one pound.
In addition to the citations, Hernandez was charged with one felony count of trafficking methamphetamine by possession, one felony count of trafficking methamphetamine by transportation, one felony count of maintaining a vehicle for a controlled substance, one misdemeanor count of carrying a concealed weapon and one misdemeanor count of resisting, delaying or obstructing a public officer. He is held in jail under a $300,000 secured bond and was scheduled to appear in court on Thursday.
Copyright 2013 Media General Communications Holdings, LLC