The Texas Department of Public Safety reported that in one week of traffic stops in Oldham County, it seized more than 269 pounds of marijuana with a value of $1.6 million. One state trooper pulled over a 2017 Nissan Sentra for an unspecified traffic violation on Feb. 6 as the car drove east on Interstate 40 past Vega. During a search of the vehicle, the police said that they found 123 pounds of cannabis hidden inside, carrying a value of approximately $746,000.
Two men inside the car, the driver and the passenger, were then arrested and both were charged with felony possession of marijuana. During the traffic stop, a separate vehicle, a 2014 Infiniti Q50, quickly cut in front of the stopped vehicle. However, it then quickly sped away from the scene. Police later stopped the vehicle elsewhere and arrested and charged the driver with felony marijuana possession.
Three days later, the police stopped a 2017 Nissan Altima driving east on I-40. They found and seized 64 pounds of marijuana after a drug detection dog alerted on the car. The driver was arrested and charged with felony marijuana possession. Later the same day, police stopped a 2016 Chevrolet Impala, also on Interstate 40 near Vega. In the trunk of the Impala, they found 82 pounds of cannabis, and the driver was also charged with felony possession of marijuana.
In Texas, drug crimes are aggressively pursued by prosecutors. Drug charge convictions can carry consequences that last for a lifetime, including steep fines and potential incarceration. One potential defense that an attorney could use would be to challenge a traffic stop as not being conducted with the requisite criminal conviction.
