By Jim Stevens
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
WAUKESHA, Wisc. — A suspected drug dealer was caught eating his veggies, expect in this case the green, leafy veggie was illegal.
The suspected dealer attempted to eat a large amount of marijuana while talking to a Village of Pewaukee police officer early Monday morning after the officer stopped the man because his vehicle’s registration was suspended for unpaid parking tickets.
The officer was driving west on East Wisconsin Avenue shortly after 1 a.m. when he conducted a routine registration plate check and found the registration was suspended, according to the criminal complaint filed Monday in Waukesha County Circuit Court. The officer stopped the car on Ridgeway Drive and Morris Street near Valley Forge Park.
As the officer walked up to the car, he could see the driver, Daniel S. Carter, 36, of Milwaukee, “hunched over and moving around inside the car, as if he was trying to grab something in the center console area,” the complaint said.
When the officer came up to the driver’s door, he noticed the window was open only about 4 inches and asked Carter for his driver’s license.
The officer said Carter “was chewing and appeared to have his mouth full of something,” the complaint said. The officer then asked for proof of insurance for the vehicle, and Carter nodded, turned his back to the officer and again moved things around in the center console area, the complaint said.
Carter gave the card to the officer, and the officer could see what looked like “green vegetable material on the lips of the driver,” the complaint said.
The officer asked Carter to roll down the window, and he could smell marijuana, the complaint said.
Carter was “chewing something very aggressively” and the officer asked what he was eating, and when Carter opened his mouth to respond the officer could see “a large amount of green vegetable material,” the complaint said. The officer asked Carter if he had “weed” in his mouth, and Carter said he did, the complaint said.
The officer, who noted Carter’s “entire mouth appeared to be filled with marijuana,” asked Carter to get out of his car and walked him to the officer’s squad car and opened the trunk and told Carter to spit out the marijuana into the trunk, the complaint said.
Carter spit out the marijuana all over the trunk and onto the road, the complaint said. Each time the officer ordered Carter to empty his mouth, Carter “sprayed marijuana in a large area on the rear of his vehicle as well as onto the street and into the air,” the complaint said.
Another officer responded and took Carter into custody, the complaint said. The other officer picked up as much of the marijuana as he could for evidence and then searched Carter’s car and found a total of 85 grams of cocaine, $1,100 in cash, five cell phones and chargers.
Carter was convicted in Milwaukee County in 2002 of possession of cocaine with intent to deliver and sentenced to five years in prison. He is currently charged with possession with intent to deliver marijuana in Milwaukee County and is scheduled to go on trial Nov. 10.
Carter was charged in Waukesha County Circuit Court with felony counts of possession with intent to deliver cocaine, with a penalty enhancer of the offense occurring within1, 000 feet of a park; possession of marijuana, and bail jumping.
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