Police: Drugs found in magnetic box under car
A 26-year-old Brown County man faces felony and misdemeanor charges after police stopped him for driving with a fake license plate and later discovered methamphetamine hidden under his car, according to an incident report.
Patrolman Billy Bryant with the Nashville Police Department conducted the stop on Oct. 22 just after midnight on Van Buren Street. He had checked the license plate on Robert Bay’s green Ford Mustang and it was registered to another vehicle, a probable cause affidavit states.
Bay told police he had just purchased the Mustang and removed the plate from another vehicle. Officers reported smelling gasoline coming from Bay’s car and reported seeing a gas leak under the vehicle’s gas tank, the affidavit states.
The gas was leaking onto the street. Because of the fake license plate and the leak, officers informed Bay he would not be able to drive the car home and he was cited.
The car was towed to Bay’s home on Pleasant Valley Lane. While the vehicle was being loaded, officers reported seeing a silver, magnetic box under the back of the vehicle with a rubber band around the box, according to the affidavit.
Inside the box were four capped syringes, a $100 bill containing a white crystal substance which officers believed to be methamphetamine, and a partially cut piece of paper folded up with more suspected meth inside, the affidavit states. There was also cut baggie with marijuana inside the box.
Inside the car, officers reported finding another $100 bill and another rubber band that they believed was used as a tie-off band for drug use, the report said.
Bay told police the drugs were not his. He said he had just bought the car and denied any wrongdoing, according to the affidavit.
He was arrested and taken to the Brown County jail.
On Oct. 22, he was charged with possession of methamphetamine, a Level 6 felony; unlawful possession of a syringe, a Level 6 felony; and possession of marijuana, a Class B misdemeanor.
K9 alerts officers to drugs in vehicle; charges filed
An Indiana State Police K9 alerted officers to the presence of drugs in a vehicle during a traffic stop for speeding on Oct. 27.
ISP Trooper Matt Hatchett stopped Kristina Anderson-Salazar, 34, of State Road 135 South, at State Road 46 East and Parkview Road after he reported seeing her Jeep driving 61 mph in a 50 mph zone and left of the center line twice. The vehicle also did not have a license plate, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Salazar said she was borrowing the vehicle and did not know what happened to the plate.
Hatchett requested consent to search the vehicle, but Salazar denied it. Hatchett then had his K9, Axe, do a free air sniff on the vehicle, and the dog indicated drugs were present, according to the affidavit.
Under the front passenger seat, Hatchett reported finding an empty syringe along with a loaded syringe he believed was full of methamphetamine. Salazar and the passenger were placed in handcuffs.
In the rear seat floorboard, Hatchett reported finding a purse with a pouch inside, which contained another syringe and a plastic container with meth in it. Salazar said the purse was hers, the report said. Hatchett also reported finding a black backpack that had marijuana inside. Salazar said the bag belonged to a relative.
Brown County Sheriff’s Deputy Austin Schonfeld reported finding a blue plastic container with a fourth syringe inside under the driver’s seat.
Salazar later admitted to police she had used meth earlier in the day.
The passenger with Salazar said he had just given her a ride and he denied knowing anything about the items in the vehicle.
Both were arrested. At the Brown County jail, Salazar and the passenger both said the illegal items belonged to the other person, according to the affidavit. Hatchett requested both be charged.
On Oct. 28, Salazar was charged with possession of methamphetamine and unlawful possession of a syringe, both Level 6 felonies.
At press time, no formal charges had been filed against the passenger.
Report: Driver tested at four times legal intoxication
Police stopped a man driving in town who they said had four times the legal amount of alcohol in his system on Oct. 18.
Indiana State Police Trooper Chris Griggs stopped August Simons IV at 8 p.m. on South Jefferson Street after someone reported seeing him driving drunk, according to a probable cause affidavit states.
Griggs reported smelling alcohol on Simons, that his speech was slurred, his eyes were red and glassy, his manual dexterity was poor and his balance was unsteady. Simons had also reportedly urinated on himself and did not have pants on, the affidavit states.
A portable breath test showed his blood alcohol level to be 0.32, the report said, four times the legal limit for a driver of 0.08.
Simons, of Forest Hills Drive, was charged on Oct. 19 with operating a vehicle with an ACE of 0.15 or more and operating a vehicle while intoxicated, both elevated to Level 6 felonies due to Simons being previously convicted of the same charges within the last seven years. He also was charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated — endangering a person, a Class A misdemeanor.
