‘Baffling’: NC man speeding in Indian Land SC had 17 pounds of weed, sheriff says
A North Carolina man stopped by deputies for speeding in South Carolina faces drug trafficking charges after deputies found 17 pounds of marijuana in his pickup truck, The Lancaster County sheriff said.
Deputies arrested Gerardo Rangel, 24, of Waxhaw, on Tuesday after Rangel allegedly was driving 62 mph in a 45 mph zone on U.S. 521, Sheriff Barry Faile said in a statement and on sheriff’s office social media sites.
The area is south of Charlotte’s Ballantyne area and east of Fort Mill.
“It’s a little baffling that Rangel was speeding down Charlotte Highway openly carrying a lot of marijuana, but I’m glad he passed our deputy and we were able to get all this marijuana out of circulation,” Faile said.
At the traffic stop a deputy smelled marijuana in the 2007 Chevrolet Silverado truck that Rangel was in with his young son, according to Faile.
Rangel turned over to deputies a small plastic bag containing about seven grams of suspected marijuana, the statement said.
The child’s mother arrived and took custody of him, the sheriff said.
The smell of marijuana plus the suspect turning over the small bag of drugs gave officers probable cause to search the truck, Faile said. Deputies found bags of marijuana in the rear passenger area of the truck and in the bed, the statement said. Deputies also seized more than $10,000 in cash, according to Faile.
The drug trafficking charge carries from one year to 10 years in prison for a conviction under South Carolina law. Rangel was released from the Lancaster County jail after posting $50,000 bail, officials said.
