Pair arrested on drug charges in Laurel

LAUREL, Del. – A weekend traffic stop led to a fugitive and felony drug arrest in Laurel.

At around 3 p.m. Saturday, officers stopped a vehicle for a traffic violation in the area of Poplar Street and Old Sailor Road. Police found that the vehicle was occupied by four people, one of whom was reportedly sitting on the floor of the vehicle, unsecured. It was determined that the driver had a suspended driver’s license and an out-of-state warrant.

After the driver was taken into custody, one of the passengers was seen trying to conceal an item on his person, which was determined to be a small bag of crack cocaine. A further search of his person led to the recovery of ecstasy pills in his pants pocket.

One of the back seat passengers, a 23-year-old Milton woman, was found to be in possession of a glass smoking pipe used to consume crack cocaine. She was released without charge, and the pipe was disposed of. A referral was also made to the Laurel Police Clinician Services for substance abuse treatment.

While being taken to the police station, both male subjects were secured in the back of a patrol car when one of the subjects was seen removing an item from the inside of his pants and attempting to eat it. The object was determined to be additional crack cocaine. In total, officers recovered over 12 grams of crack cocaine from the subject, which is a felony quantity.

The driver, identified as 22-year-old Jah’lier Pettyjohn, was charged with driving while suspended/revoked and traffic offenses. He was released pending a future court appearance.

The passenger, identified as 46-year-old Rahman Miller, was charged with possession with intent to distribute Tier 2 quantity of crack cocaine, possession of Tier 2 quantity of crack cocaine, tampering with physical evidence, and possession of a controlled substance. He was held at SCI on a $15,000 secured bail.