BEDFORD – A Bedford man was arrested Friday after a Bedford Police officer stopped the driver for an expired license plate.
The officer was on routine patrol when he noticed a blue GMC Envoy traveling west on 7th Street and the license plate was expired.
The officer also learned that the license plate on the vehicle returned to a white Toyota and not the blue GMC.
The officer initiated a traffic stop but the driver of the GMC cut through the alley and accelerated north on T Street from 6th Street. The driver stopped on T Street between 6th and 7th Street.
The officer spoke to the driver 44-year-old Travis Stinson, who told the officer he was “test driving the vehicle for his cousin”.
He told the officer he knew he should not be driving the vehicle.
The officer reported Stinson had “glassy eyes and constricted pupils”.
Stinson and his female passenger were asked to exit the vehicle. In Stinson’s pocket, the officer found a vape THC pen.
The officer then learned that Stinson’s driving status was suspended.
A wrecker service was requested to tow the vehicle and an inventory was taken of the vehicle’s content.
In the driver’s door storage area, the officer located a black case that contained a glass smoking device with meth residue. An orange rubber hose containing meth residue and a container that housed crystal meth were also located. Police also inventoried a green silicone container with THC wax inside it.
Stinson told police he believe his ex-wife planted the glass pipe in the vehicle. He said she was mad because he had not given her part of his tax return. When asked if his DNA would be on the pipe he admitted he had smoked it earlier with his ex-wife.
The female passenger told police Stinson was just giving her a ride to the store and she didn’t know about the illegal items found and claimed they did not belong to her. She was released from the scene.
The vehicle was towed by Jackson’s Heavy Haul.
Stinson was transported to the Bedford Police Department where he admitted to smoking meth and marijuana before driving. He failed three standardized field sobriety tests.
He was then transported to IU Health Bedford Hospital for a blood draw and those results are pending.
Stinson was arrested on charges of operating a vehicle while intoxicated, OWI endangerment, OWI controlled substance, possession of meth, possession of marijuana, and possession of drug paraphernalia.
