MARIETTA — A Marietta Police K9 unit found what amounted to what police are calling a “makeshift mobile drug store” during a traffic stop Sunday evening.
Canine officer Atos and handler Officer Johnson were on patrol when they observed a 2014 F-150 Ford truck make odd maneuvers appearing to try to avoid their marked police vehicle.
Officer Johnson got behind the suspect vehicle and ran the license plate through his in-car computer. The license plate came back suspended, giving Johnson probable cause to initiate a traffic stop.
When the driver, 44-year-old Edrichus Sykes of Atlanta exited the vehicle, Johnson discovered that Sykes had methamphetamine in his pocket. Johnson then asked the passenger, 37-year-old Desire Scarpa of Suwanee to exit the vehicle.
Atos performed an open-air sniff of the unoccupied suspect vehicle, alerting on it for the presence of additional narcotics. A subsequent vehicle search yielded the following items:
Drugs: 40 psilocybin mushrooms, 3 crack pipes, 7 bags of crack cocaine (12g total), 3 bags of methamphetamine, 4 bags of heroin, 4 fentanyl patches, 3 digital scales, 32g of marijuana, 5 MDMA pills, 1 bag of brown crystals (suspected to be ketamine)
Pills: 19 clonazepam, 5 cetirizine, 4 methocarbamol, 1 sevelamer carbonate, 14 diphenhydramine, 9 zolpidem, 1 hydrocodone, 7 oxycodone, 11 tramadol, 1 trazadone, 2 sumatriptan, 39 quetiapine, 4 sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim, 1 guaifenesin, 4 dextroamphetamine and an additional 15 unidentified pills
Guns: Smith and Wesson revolver, Glock 36, Hi Point C9 Rifle
Additionally, two bags of crack cocaine and a Hi Point C9 pistol were located in Scarpa’s possession.
Sykes was arrested and is being held on a $50,000 bond facing 12 felony and 2 misdemeanor charges.
Scarpa was also arrested and is being held on a $10,000 bond facing felony possession of cocaine and felony possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
