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http://articles.mcall.com/2013-12-1...nd-soap-20131213_1_trooper-drug-suspects-soap
When a state trooper pulled the couple over along Interstate 78 last month, he said he stopped them because they were going 5 miles over the speed limit and hugging the side of the lane.
The trooper said he smelled marijuana. The driver of the new Mercedes-Benz, 26-year-old Annadel Cruz, told him she had smoked the drug before she left New York City, but had not done so in the car.
The trooper asked to search the car, and Cruz consented. When the trooper found two plastic-wrapped packages in the trunk of the car, Cruz told him they contained soap she had made herself.
The trooper field-tested them and Cruz and her friend, 30-year-old Alexander Bernstein, spent the next month in Lehigh County Prison after being arrested on cocaine-trafficking charges.
They got out this week after the Lehigh County district attorney's office dropped the charges because a state police lab tested the packages and found they contained boric acid or soap.
Attorneys for the couple are questioning the investigation, accusing the trooper of profiling the couple and botching the field test.
"I think it is a nice car with out-of-state plates and a Hispanic female behind the wheel" that prompted the traffic stop, said Josh Karoly, who represents Bernstein. "If it was me driving that car, this wouldn't have happened."
Cruz's attorney, Robert Goldman, said, "After this, everyone should pause about jumping to conclusions when a field test is said to be positive by law enforcement. There are people going to jail on high bail amounts based upon these field tests."
Bernstein was sent to prison under $500,000 bail and Cruz under $250,000 bail by District Judge Jacob Hammond.
The story continues: http://articles.mcall.com/2013-12-1...nd-soap-20131213_1_trooper-drug-suspects-soap
When a state trooper pulled the couple over along Interstate 78 last month, he said he stopped them because they were going 5 miles over the speed limit and hugging the side of the lane.
The trooper said he smelled marijuana. The driver of the new Mercedes-Benz, 26-year-old Annadel Cruz, told him she had smoked the drug before she left New York City, but had not done so in the car.
The trooper asked to search the car, and Cruz consented. When the trooper found two plastic-wrapped packages in the trunk of the car, Cruz told him they contained soap she had made herself.
The trooper field-tested them and Cruz and her friend, 30-year-old Alexander Bernstein, spent the next month in Lehigh County Prison after being arrested on cocaine-trafficking charges.
They got out this week after the Lehigh County district attorney's office dropped the charges because a state police lab tested the packages and found they contained boric acid or soap.
Attorneys for the couple are questioning the investigation, accusing the trooper of profiling the couple and botching the field test.
"I think it is a nice car with out-of-state plates and a Hispanic female behind the wheel" that prompted the traffic stop, said Josh Karoly, who represents Bernstein. "If it was me driving that car, this wouldn't have happened."
Cruz's attorney, Robert Goldman, said, "After this, everyone should pause about jumping to conclusions when a field test is said to be positive by law enforcement. There are people going to jail on high bail amounts based upon these field tests."
Bernstein was sent to prison under $500,000 bail and Cruz under $250,000 bail by District Judge Jacob Hammond.
The story continues: http://articles.mcall.com/2013-12-1...nd-soap-20131213_1_trooper-drug-suspects-soap
