What began as an ordinary speeding stop in Duluth ended with 14 charges, jars of marijuana and an Altoids tin full of prescription pills.
Around 11:30 a.m. Sunday, a city officer saw a car driving above the speed limit on Bank Street and turned on his lights. Soon after the lights were activated, the officer saw a plastic bag being tossed from the window.
The driver pulled over on Pleasant Hill Road. When the officer approached the car, he noticed a strong smell of marijuana and the driver fiddling with something near the car radio, according to a police report.
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The driver, Caleb Fields, said he and his girlfriend were going to Red Lobster.
When the officer returned to his car to request back-up, he noticed Fields and Fields’ girlfriend “moving around a lot” in the car, reaching into the girlfriend’s purse, near the radio and into the center console, the police report said.
The officer asked Fields if there was marijuana in the car. Fields initially denied it, but when the officer said he would search the car once back-up arrived, Fields confessed he threw a bag of marijuana out of the window before stopping for the officer, according to the police report.
Fields and his girlfriend “became very nervous and begged for forgiveness” from the officer, the report said. Fields asked the officer to let him off with a speeding ticket because he told the truth about the bag of marijuana.
Instead, the officer asked him to get out of the car. Fields repeatedly refused, saying “I know my rights.”
When police were finally able to get Fields out of the car and place him under arrest, they found multiple bags and jars of marijuana, prescription pills in bags and an Altoids tin, a small bag of meth, “lots of cash” and a Glock handgun. Fields has a previous felony conviction for terroristic threats and criminal property damage; felons are not permitted to possess firearms.
Fields has been charged with possession with intent to distribute marijuana, six counts of possession with intent to distribute controlled substances, possession of methamphetamine, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, possession of a firearm in the commission of a crime, tampering with evidence, obstruction of a law enforcement officer, speeding and a tinted window violation.
Fields was released from the Gwinnett County Detention Center on Monday on $40,800 bond.
“This is why traffic enforcement is important,” said Maj. Don Woodruff, division commander of the Duluth Police Department Office of Professional Standards, in an email to the AJC.
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