A routine traffic stop resulted in the arrest of a female passenger on multiple felony drug charges and the arrest of the driver on misdemeanor drug charges Sunday afternoon.
The passenger, Tera Renee Hanley, 37, who lists a Bill House Trail address, was taken into custody shortly after 3 p.m. and charged with felony counts of possession of meth with purpose to deliver, possession of drug paraphernalia and unauthorized use of another person's property to facilitate a crime, each punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
She was later released on $15,000 bond and is set to appear Jan. 7 in Garland County District Court.
The driver, identified as Austin Lee Kasemeier, 19, who lists a Bayshore Cove address, was charged with two misdemeanor counts of possession of drug paraphernalia, punishable by up to one year in jail, and cited for failure to present a driver's license and no liability insurance. He was being held on $2,000 bond and appeared Monday in district court.
According to the probable cause affidavit, around 2:45 p.m. Sunday, Arkansas State Police Trooper Ryan Wingo saw a silver Subaru Forester westbound on Albert Pike and noted the front seat passenger was not wearing a seat belt so he stopped the vehicle at the corner of Wynn and West St. Louis streets.
Wingo made contact with the five occupants of the vehicle, including the driver, Kasemeier, who told him he didn't have any ID on him and that the vehicle didn't belong to him. He checked the IDs of all the passengers, including Hanley, who was in the back seat, and all came back clear.
Wingo allegedly noted an odor of marijuana coming from the vehicle and asked about it and was told by the occupants that marijuana was recently smoked but there was nothing illegal in the vehicle at that time.
The trooper started removing the occupants one at a time to be checked and noted Hanley brought her purse with her and pulled a smaller bag out of her jacket pocket and put it in her purse. At that point, Kasemeier reportedly admitted he had two metal pipes in his jacket. Wingo searched the vehicle but didn't locate anything illegal.
Wingo searched Hanley's purse and found the smaller Victoria's Secret bag she had put in it. At that point, Hanley claimed the smaller bag was not hers. In searching the bag, Wingo allegedly found 3.2 grams of what later tested positive for meth and a glass pipe with meth residue. In her purse, he found a wallet with $2,410 in cash.
The other three occupants were released, but Hanley and Kasemeier were both taken into custody.
Local on 12/18/2018