A 44-year-old Imperial man was arrested for alleged possession of methamphetamine outside the Walmart store in Arnold. The man was arrested after Arnold Police spotted the man and a woman he was with acting suspiciously in the store parking lot, 2201 Michigan Ave., police reported.
At about 12:15 a.m. June 15, officers saw the man sitting inside a 2005 GMC Yukon parked outside the store. The license plates on the vehicle were expired, the report said.
After the police cruiser passed the SUV, the man got out and appeared to look for where the police vehicle had gone. A short time later, a woman came out of the store with a cart full of items, and the man loaded the items into the vehicle after again appearing to look for the police cruiser, according to the report.
The man got into the driver’s seat, and the woman walked to the front of the store and appeared to scan the parking lot for the cruiser. Then, she got into the passenger seat, but after 15 minutes, she got out and started picking up discarded cigarettes in the parking lot and appeared to smoke some of them, the report said.
She returned to the SUV, and the man started to drive away, but police stopped the SUV in the parking lot. The man appeared to be under the influence of a narcotic, according to the report.
The man denied being under the influence, and he and wouldn’t let the officers search him or the SUV. So, a police dog was brought to the scene and indicated illegal drugs might be in the vehicle the report said.
Officers searched the SUV and allegedly found a bag containing a crystal-like substance believed to be meth, two pipes with burnt residue and a bong with burnt residue. The man said the items were his, and when he was searched, officers allegedly found four bags containing substances believed to be meth in one of his pants’ pockets, according to the report.
The man was arrested and taken to the Police Station, where he was booked and released pending application for warrants. Depending on results of the drug analysis, Arnold Police will seek charges against the man through the Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office for possession of a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia. The woman was released at the scene, Detective Lt. Jason Valentine said.