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Charges filed in I-70 drug stop
A Tuesday traffic stop that landed them both in the Putnam County Jail could lead to lengthy prison sentences for a pair of California women.
After more than 100 pounds of marijuana was found in the truck in which they were traveling, Ana D. Quevedo and Rosa E. Tobar were formally charged on Thursday with Level 5 felony dealing in marijuana — at least 10 pounds and Class B misdemeanor possession of marijuana.
It all started Tuesday morning when Putnam County Sheriff’s Department Maj. Dwight Simmons noticed a GMC pickup truck with Ohio plates commit a pair of traffic violations.
When Simmons tried to initiate a traffic stop, it took nearly a mile for the driver to pull over. He noticed that the driver, identified later as 44-year-old Quevedo of Newbury, Calif., and her passenger, 46-year-old Tobar of Van Nuys, Calif., both seemed nervous.
Talking to the two women separately, he noted inconsistencies in their two stories regarding the borrowed truck and a trip from Ohio to California and back to Ohio.
Getting assistance from a pair of Indiana State Police troopers, Simmons requested and received consent to search the vehicle.
His K9 partner Bo was taken to the vehicle to do a narcotics sniff and the dog went directly to the tailgate of the truck and indicated a positive sniff for narcotics.
When Simmons opened the tailgate (the bed was concealed by a tonneau cover), the officers found three large duffel bags. When opened, they found the bags contained vacuum-sealed packages of marijuana.
The women were then handcuffed and given their Miranda warning in Spanish.
The truck was towed, while one of the troopers transported the evidence to the Putnam County Jail in his patrol vehicle.
At the jail, the evidence was removed from the bags and a total of 105 vacuum-sealed bags, each with an approximate weight of one pound, were found.
The two women were also transported to the jail and booked in around 12:30 p.m. on initial charges of dealing in marijuana and possession of marijuana.
On Thursday, Prosecutor Tim Bookwalter filed the same charges in Putnam Superior Court.
On Friday, Senior Judge J. Blaine Akers, in place of Judge Denny Bridges, presided over the initial hearing for Quevedo and Tobar.
The retired Clay County judge entered not-guilty pleas on their behalf and set bond at $20,000, cash only.