Disclaimer: All persons are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
ST. TAMMANY PARISH, La. (WGNO) — Two men were arrested on Tuesday, June 25, after a traffic stop led to a drug bust in St. Tammany Parish.
According to the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office, deputies pulled over a car near the intersection of Highway 11 and Johnny F Smith Boulevard near Slidell.
As the car pulled to the shoulder of the road, STPSO detectives said they saw what was allegedly later found to be almost an ounce of methamphetamine being tossed out the passenger window.
The driver, identified by the STPSO as 44-year-old Kasey Johnson, of Mississippi, and the passenger, identified by the STPSO as 43-year-old Jason Hotard, of New Orleans, were taken into custody and booked at the St. Tammany Parish Correctional Center.
STPSO detectives said they later found more methamphetamine, a small amount of marijuana and nearly $1,000 in cash in the suspects’ possession.
According to the STPSO, “Johnson and Hotard were both out on bond stemming from a 2019 large-scale joint investigation by the Louisiana State Police and the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Narcotics Division regarding Conspiracy to Distribute Heroin” at the time of the arrest.
Johnson faces the following charges:
- Possession with the intent to distribute a schedule II controlled dangerous substance (methamphetamine)
- Transactions involving proceeds from drug offenses
- Obstruction of justice
- Resisting an officer
- Improper lane usage
- Littering
- No driver’s license on person
Hotard faces charges of possession with the intent to distribute a schedule II controlled dangerous substance (methamphetamine) and obstruction of justice.
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