Ohio State Highway Patrol Troopers seized nearly $20,000 worth of methamphetamine and marijuana in Tuscarawas County on the same day.
On December 29, troopers stopped a vehicle that was traveling on Interstate 77 around 2:53 p.m. and confiscated eight pounds of marijuana valued at $8,000. Troopers pulled over 49-year-old Christopher Frank of Utah and had drug-sniffing canines search his vehicle. The search revealed seven bags of marijuana.
Frank was booked into the Tuscarawas county jail and charged with possession and trafficking of marijuana, both third-degree felonies.
A short while later around 3:19 p.m. troopers pulled over a man as he was driving on Interstate 77 southbound. During contact, troopers smelled raw marijuana and while the driver of the vehicle was in the back of the police cruiser, the passenger 31-year-old John C. Bell III fled on foot and tried to destroy the evidence. He eventually stopped and followed troopers verbal commands.
Troopers found 119 grams of methamphetamine valued at $9,500. Bell was taken to the Tuscarawas County Jail and charged with possession and trafficking of methamphetamine both second-degree felonies.
