Traffic stops result
in 3 marijuana seizures
By Michelle Starr
Staff writer
The Nebraska State Patrol had a
drug-filled weekend.
Troopers seized 746 lbs. of marijua
na along Interstate 80 and made four
arrests in three different traffic stops,
said Terri Teuber, press secretary of the
Nebraska State Patrol.
This weekend was not significant
when compared with any other week
end, Teuber said. Some weekends there
are a lot of arrests, and others pass with
out incident.
She said die drug seizures show that
the training the State Patrol receives is
paying off.
State Patrol Col. Tom Nesbitt
agreed in a statement.
“These stops migjht never have gone
beyond traffic, violations if not for some
very alert troopers,” he said.
The first instance was at 10:37 p.m.
on Friday when officers pulled over an
eastbound vehicle with Illinois license
plates. The vehicle was driving on the
interstate’s shoulder 14 miles east of the
Lexington interchange.
A K-9 unit alerted officers to 374
lbs. of marijuana located in a closet and
under a bed inside a recreational vehi
cle.
Two men, Daryl Grauman, 22, and
Troy Martin, 23, both from Illinois were
arrested for possession with the intent to
deliver.The second instance involved a
man trying to hide drugs in a false fuel
tank on Saturday afternoon.
Roy Padecky, 40, of Blue Island, 111.,
was pulled over for speeding eastbound
on Interstate 80 near the Highway 77
interchange.
A K-9 unit alerted officers to the
phony tank filled with 72 lbs. of mari
juana, Teuber said.
Padecky was arrested for posses
sion with the intent to deliver. In the
third seizure troopers pulled someone
over for speeding, but this time it was
eastbound on Interstate 80 east of
Lexington on Sunday.
Inside a U-Haul, officers found 300
lbs. of marijuana packed inside boxes in
the trunk.
Edward Yunkers, 59, of Circle Pine,
Minn., was arrested for possession with
the intent to deliver, Teuber said.
Teuber said the State Patrol has had
single-stop incidents with the same
amount of marijuana as all three offens
es this weekend combined.
“The scary thing is that even with
nearly a thousand pounds of marijuana
in one weekend, we still believe we are
only scratching the surface when it
comes to the amount of illegal drugs
being transported along interstate 80,”
Nesbitt said.
Suspects nabbed in burglary
After seeing two men carrying
items out of a house, neighbors of a
home at 911 Peach St. notified police at
10:50 a.m. on Monday of a possible
burglary.
The neighbors gave a description of
the car that the suspects drove away in
and its license plates. The car matched
one stolen on Feb. 4, Lincoln Police
Ofc. Katherine Finnell said.
Police found the suspects in the
stolen car near 11th and Washington
streets, but the men saw the officers and
attempted to drive away.
The suspects drove down an alley,
hit a car and ran away on foot.
Police found items in the car stolen
from the house valuing $965, including
a television, videocassette recorder, two
radios, a flashlight and compact discs.
Finnell said six shotguns and two
rifles stolen from the house are still
missing.
The suspects were described by
police as two boys in their early teens
wearing black leather jackets. No
arrests have been made.
I
Police: Woman harassed on trail
A 72-year-old woman out for a
morning walk on the bike trail at 17th
and Highway 2 was reportedly harassed
by a man exposing himself, police said.
Police received a call at 9:49 a.m.
Monday of the indecent exposure,
Finnell said.
The woman was walking on the
bike trail when a man began following
her. She slowed down, and he went in
front of her, Finnell said. She said he
pulled down his pants and revealed his
penis while grabbing it and mumbling
something to the woman.
The suspect was described as a man
ir, his late teens wearing a black Nike
suit. He was said to be between 5-foot
10 and 6 feet with a lean build and blond
hair.
After the incident, the man ran
away, and the woman called the police.
No arrests have been made yet, Finnell
said.
Compiled by staff writer Derek
Lippincott
Seizure ruled unlawful
By Mkhefle Starr
Staff uniter
Tuesday’s Nebraska Supreme Court
decision was the second in a month that
ruled State Patrol troopers, despite find
ing drugs during traffic stops, did not
obtain the evidence lawfully.
The court said officers need more
grounds than a suspect’s nervous
actions to search a vehicle for drugs
during a traffic violation and that ner
vousness should be treated with caution
as a basis for search and seizure.
Terri Teuber, press secretary for the
State Patrol, said officers have to make
quick decisions on the scene and have
been successful at the search and
seizure of drugs.
But, the court also has the right to
review officers’ actions during a drug
seizure, she said.
• On Tuesday, die Nebraska Court of
Appeals ruled that a 1996 seizure of
28‘/a pounds of marijuana fourid in die
trunk of a rental car driven by Robert
McGinnis of Seattle was seized unlaw
fully. t
McGinnis’ car was stopped April
12,1996, for following a car too closely,
and he was given a warning, reports
said.
After the traffic stop was complete,
McGinnis should have been free to go
and notJield just because State Patrol
Trooper Andy Allen said McGinnis
appeared nervous, the court said.
The opinion stated Allen was also
suspicious of McGinnis’ travel plans of
driving across the country from San
Francisco to New York, when he could
have flown, and recently had flown
from Seattle to San Francisco. He rent
ed the car in San Francisco.
The court said “it is not a criminal
conduct to desire to drive across the
United States.”
McGinnis was charged with two
counts of possession of marijuana and
sentenced in April 1999 to serve a com
bined sentence of about two to four
years, the opinion said.
The court released a similar opinion
Jan. 21,2000, concerning an Aug. 27,
1997, search and seizure of229 pounds
of marijuana on Interstate 80 near
Grand Island.
In Tuesday’s decision, the state
Supreme Court directed the District
Court to dismiss the case.
the
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