It was last month when a traffic stop in Tallassee turned into a drug trafficking arrest for two Montgomery residents.
Elmore County Sheriff’s deputies clocked a vehicle traveling 76 mph in a 55 mph zone near GKN in Tallassee. When they stopped the vehicle, they found Terrance Carr, 43, driving and Timothy Sanders, 30, in the passenger seat. The events of the arrest played out during a preliminary hearing in front of Elmore County District Court Judge Glen Goggans.
A deputy testified he spoke to the driver and noticed Sanders appeared to be asleep.
“I asked the driver if he was OK?,” the deputy testified.
The deputy took the driver’s ID and went back to the patrol vehicle to run it through dispatch. A deputy went to the passenger side of the vehicle and noticed Sanders open his eyes as if to check to see if everything was all clear. The deputy asked for the passenger’s ID as well.
“The driver then started to smoke a Black & Mild,” the deputy said. “He blew the smoke in my face.”
The deputy testified that it was an indication of narcotics. Law enforcement requested the men get out of the car and Sanders put his left hand in his pocket.
“He refused to pull it out,” the deputy said. “I thought it might be hiding a weapon.”
When Sanders did remove his hand, it revealed 11 oxycodone pills weighing in excess of 4 grams.
The discovery gave the deputies probable cause to search the car. In the center console, 8 grams of cocaine and 8 grams of crack were found.
Sanders made a statement to the deputy on the scene about who the drugs belonged to.
“It’s mine,” the deputy said Sanders said. “Let the driver go.”
Sanders was charged with trafficking opium, possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Sanders had a $1,531,000 cash bond. He requested it be reduced to a regular $250,000 bond.
“I’m not going to do that,” Goggans said. “It will remain the same.”
