A man from Largo was arrested in Sumter County when officers from the Florida Highway Patrol stopped a pickup vehicle pulling a camper on Interstate 75. Troopers searched the inside using a K9 unit, which aroused a trained dog, and discovered thousands of pounds of marijuana.
On Wednesday evening, FHP troopers took into custody William Hicks, 55, near Wildwood on I-75 as he drove south. According to arrest documents obtained by 10 Tampa Bay News, Hicks was arrested for allegedly trafficking marijuana.
According to arrest records, Hicks was pulled over after a trooper claimed he was failing to maintain a single lane and following another automobile at a “not reasonable or prudent” distance.
When Hicks drove over, he said he was on the phone with his doctor, the interior “had a lived-in appearance,” and he couldn’t give insurance or car registration information. According to records, the trooper requested that Hicks accompany him to his car. “While standing outside of the vehicle, I detected a faint odor of fresh marijuana emanating from the pickup’s interior,” the trooper claimed in the arrest affidavit.
Around this time, another trooper came and deployed Lobo, a trained police dog.
The K9 trooper accompanying the dog “indicated to me that K9 Lobo had alerted,” according to records. When asked if there were any reasons why a trained dog would be alerted, Hicks responded, “No,” according to recordings.
When the trooper patted Hicks, he noticed a “odor of fresh marijuana emitting from his clothing.” Then Hicks denied there was any hemp in the car.
Upon opening the camper, troopers detected a strong marijuana odor, which intensified as they unlocked the second door. “I observed stacks of large black plastic trash bags labeled with colored duct tape,” the trooper claimed in the arrest affidavit, adding that he judged them to be “vacuum sealed one-pound bags of marijuana.”
After opening the bag and analyzing a little amount of marijuana with a field test kit, “the result was presumptively positive for cannabis/marijuana,” the trooper stated.
The trooper stated that they removed 15 huge bags of marijuana from the front of the camper and 47 large bags, as well as medium-sized paper bags of marijuana, from the back. After calculating the entire weight, the trooper reported that it was 2,025.70 pounds with packaging.
Hicks was arrested and taken to Sumter County Jail, where he is facing various counts, including narcotics and marijuana trafficking and possession. A man from Largo was arrested in Sumter County when officers from the Florida Highway Patrol stopped a pickup vehicle pulling a camper on Interstate 75. Troopers searched the inside using a K9 unit, which aroused a trained dog, and discovered thousands of pounds of marijuana.
On Wednesday evening, FHP troopers took into custody William Hicks, 55, near Wildwood on I-75 as he drove south. According to arrest documents obtained by 10 Tampa Bay News, Hicks was arrested for allegedly trafficking marijuana.
According to arrest records, Hicks was pulled over after a trooper claimed he was failing to maintain a single lane and following another automobile at a “not reasonable or prudent” distance.
When Hicks drove over, he said he was on the phone with his doctor, the interior “had a lived-in appearance,” and he couldn’t give insurance or car registration information. According to records, the trooper requested that Hicks accompany him to his car. “While standing outside of the vehicle, I detected a faint odor of fresh marijuana emanating from the pickup’s interior,” the trooper claimed in the arrest affidavit.
Around this time, another trooper came and deployed Lobo, a trained police dog.
The K9 trooper accompanying the dog “indicated to me that K9 Lobo had alerted,” according to records. When asked if there were any reasons why a trained dog would be alerted, Hicks responded, “No,” according to recordings.
When the trooper patted Hicks, he noticed a “odor of fresh marijuana emitting from his clothing.” Then Hicks denied there was any hemp in the car.
Upon opening the camper, troopers detected a strong marijuana odor, which intensified as they unlocked the second door. “I observed stacks of large black plastic trash bags labeled with colored duct tape,” the trooper claimed in the arrest affidavit, adding that he judged them to be “vacuum sealed one-pound bags of marijuana.”
After opening the bag and analyzing a little amount of marijuana with a field test kit, “the result was presumptively positive for cannabis/marijuana,” the trooper stated.
The trooper stated that they removed 15 huge bags of marijuana from the front of the camper and 47 large bags, as well as medium-sized paper bags of marijuana, from the back. After calculating the entire weight, the trooper reported that it was 2,025.70 pounds with packaging.
Hicks was arrested and taken to Sumter County Jail, where he is facing various counts, including narcotics and marijuana trafficking and possession.
