A traffic stop on Interstate 20 last week led to the arrest of a passenger after suspected drugs were found.
Juanita Marie Johnson, 32, of New Orleans, was arrested July 10 in Lincoln Parish.
A Louisiana State Police trooper reported seeing a white Toyota RAV4 traveling east near milepost 73 at about 9:00 p.m. The vehicle was reportedly following a commercial vehicle at an unsafe distance of about two car lengths while traveling about 60 miles per hour. The trooper also reported seeing the Toyota drift across the dashed centerline into the left lane.
During the stop, the driver said the occupants were traveling from Galveston, Texas, to New Orleans after a three-day vacation. Johnson reportedly said they were traveling from Houston to New Orleans after spending one day in Houston.
The trooper reported detecting a strong odor of marijuana coming from the vehicle.
During a search, a small handbag was found where Johnson had been sitting in the left rear passenger seat. According to the affidavit, the bag contained approximately seven grams of suspected marijuana and a blister pack containing five suspected tapentadol dosage units.
The trooper reported that a bag of suspected ecstasy was also seen on the shoulder near the vehicle’s occupants. Johnson allegedly said she had thrown the bag on the ground and claimed ownership of it and the items in the handbag.
The bag reportedly contained 82 dosage units of ecstasy.
Johnson was transported to the Lincoln Parish Detention Center and booked for possession of marijuana, possession of ecstasy with intent to distribute, possession of tapentadol, and obstruction of justice.
This information has been provided by a law enforcement agency as public information. Persons named or shown in photographs or video as suspects in a criminal investigation, or arrested and charged with a crime, have not been convicted of any criminal offense and are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
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