A South Carolina man was arrested on a cocaine trafficking charge after a Greene County deputy pulled him over on Oct. 22.
Nolan Leroy Huger, 39, of Charleston, also faces charges of tampering with evidence and a window tint violation.
According to reports, Sgt. Leo Sierra stopped Huger for a possible window tint violation near milepost 130 on I-20.
Huger told Sierra he might have left his license at a friend’s house, so Sierra decided to test the window while waiting for dispatch to research the status of Huger’s license.
Sierra said he saw Huger place a cap on a Stanley-style cup and repeatedly push the straw in and out, as if he were manipulating something inside the cup.
Huger told Sierra he didn’t have anything illegal in the vehicle and refused to allow a search. Sierra decided to conduct an open-air sniff by K-9 officer Griff with Sgt. Knowles is on hand to assist.
Griff alerted to the driver’s door area, according to the report. His body became rigid and tense, his tail remained stiff, and his head was focused on the source of the odor.
He then transitioned into a full sit directly at the location of the alert, which is consistent with his trained final response to the presence of narcotics. This behavior indicates that the K-9 detected a controlled substance and is consistent with his training to provide a passive, clear alert without scratching or biting.
A search of the vehicle revealed a clear plastic bag containing a white powdery substance consistent with cocaine in the driver’s seat area.
Sierra also found several small, clear plastic bags containing additional white powdery substance, a quantity of suspected marijuana, and multiple cut-up, white, cookie-like pieces floating in the liquid inside the cup, which appeared to be consistent with crack cocaine.
“After extraction, the total weight of the cookie-like pieces was approximately 30 grams, though they appeared to be diluted in the liquid,” according to the report. Huger was arrested and transported to the Greene County Jail.
Thirty grams of cocaine is a little over 1 ounce.
According to zinniahealth.com, a gram of cocaine sells for anywhere from $60 per gram to $200 per gram, for a possible value of $6,000 worth of cocaine seized during the arrest.