Four people were arrested on May 6 after police pulled a vehicle over for having a stolen license plate and found drugs in the car, a police report says.
Sgt. Bill Southerland with the Brown County Sheriff’s Department stopped the vehicle at about 5 p.m. May 6 at Salt Creek Road and State Road 46 East in a parking lot. Southerland checked the license plate and it had been reported as stolen out of Jefferson County. It was also registered to a different vehicle, the probable cause affidavit states.
The driver, Shelby Dunlap, 27, of Madison, did not have insurance or registration, but gave Southerland an Indiana ID card.
Dunlap said he didn’t know the license plate was stolen and didn’t have proof of purchase or bill of sale. Only one passenger in the vehicle had a valid driver’s license, the affidavit states.
A wrecker was called to the scene to tow the vehicle. While searching each passenger prior, Southerland reported that a roll of small plastic baggies feel from the gym shorts of the front-seat passenger, Zachary Wiefling, 26, of Madison.
All of the occupants stated there was nothing illegal in the car. However, Dunlap told another officer that there was a marijuana pipe under the driver’s seat, according to the affidavit.
Southerland found the pipe, as well as a small plastic baggie with a clear/white crystal substance inside and a partially burnt hand-rolled marijuana cigarette. A field test showed that the crystal substance was methamphetamine, and it was inside a small plastic baggie similar to the ones on the roll that fell out of Wiefling’s shorts, the report said.
Dunlap told Southerland the marijuana and pipe belonged to him. All four vehicle occupants were arrested.
While in the booking area at the Brown County jail, Wiefling said the methamphetamine belonged to him, the police report said.
On May 7, Wiefling was charged with possession of methamphetamine, a Level 6 felony.
Dunlap was charged with theft, a Class A misdemeanor; possession of marijuana, a Class B misdemeanor; possession of paraphernalia, a Class C misdemeanor; operating a motor vehicle with a fictitious plate, a Class C infraction; and no valid driver’s license, a Class C infraction.
The two other passengers were booked into the jail on initial charges of visiting a common nuisance charges, but at press time, no official charges had been filed against them.
