Over a pound of drugs and thousands of dollars worth of cash were recovered from a Thursday, Sept. 26, traffic stop executed by officers of the Bellefontaine Police Department in collaboration with troopers from the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
Cortlend Banks, 31, of Lima, was charged with felony possession of marijuana and driving under suspension and was lodged in the Logan County Jail following the 9:30 a.m. traffic stop in the area of the off-ramp from U.S. Route 33 westbound at the state rest area.
Officers on patrol were made aware of a possible impaired driver heading westbound on U.S. 33 approaching the city limits. Troopers from the Marysville Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol and Logan County Sheriff’s deputies also were on alert for the reported erratic driver.
Banks reportedly existed U.S. 33 for a time at the U.S. Route 68 interchange and was observed in the area of Township Road 217 before he re-entered westbound U.S. Route 33. Law enforcement caught up to Banks shortly after he re-entered U.S. 33 and a traffic stop was initiated alongside the highway patrol at that time.
Banks was under multiple driver’s license suspensions and a large collection of cash was observed in a center console. K9 Officer Pyro was deployed to conduct an open air sniff, and the presence of drugs was indicated.
A search of the vehicle turned up 1.06 pounds of marijuana from the trunk of the car, and over $5,000 cash. In addition to the felony drug and driving under suspension charges, an OVI charge is also pending, law enforcement reports.
