Driver hands over pocketful of cocaine; three men charged
During a routine traffic stop on Thursday, San Benito County Sheriff’s deputies said they found nearly a pound of cocaine when the driver of the stopped vehicle removed a bulge from his pocket and said, “Here, it’s cocaine.”
The driver, 20, and two other men, ages 19 and 28, all from Hollister, were arrested during the stop when authorities say they found evidence linking the two passengers to the vehicle.
Sheriff’s deputy Lt. Roy Iler said authorities stopped the car near the intersection of San Benito Street and Flora Avenue. He said the driver did not have a driver’s license and when the deputy asked him to step out of the vehicle, he noticed a large bulge in the man’s pocket and asked about it. Iler said the man then reached into his pocket and removed a large plastic bag wrapped in black electrical tape and admitted it was cocaine.
“These men are not very bright,” Iler said. “They were probably mid-level dealers, probably not the head honchos.”
Iler said once the drugs were found, detectives from the United Narcotics Enforcement Team searched the vehicle where they found baggies, electrical tape and “paperwork and documents” linking the two passengers to the car – and thus to the cocaine.
The men were booked into San Benito County Jail for possession of narcotics with the intent to sell, transporting narcotics and conspiracy to commit a crime.
