Tempe police reported the following incident Thursday:
A 37-year-old Scottsdale man was arrested Dec. 30 at South River Road and East Apache Boulevard on suspicion of transportation theft, use of a false name and possession of drug paraphernalia, according to a police report.
At approximately 1:32 p.m., detectives stopped a Toyota with an expired license plate and conducted a search, police reported.
The man, who consented to the search, had an orange Pringles container in his possession that had been filled with a bag of marijuana, according to the report.
During an interview, the man told officers that he had been aware of the container and its contents, though someone else must have left it in the car, police reported.
The man said he thought the marijuana would be worth $5-10, which he guessed from his knowledge of smoking marijuana in the past, according to the report.
Officers also found several credit cards and a document with what appeared to be copied checks in a backpack located in the man’s trunk, police reported.
The man said he owned the backpack, according to the report.
Following the search, officers told the man that a warrant would be written on the vehicle and the contents inside, police reported.
The man said he was “in the business of finding people for other people” and that he had planned to return the cards to their owners, according to the report.
Officers told the man that if fraudulent items were found in his possession upon search, he could have fraud charges pending, police reported.
After the man was taken to Tempe City Jail, an officer conducted a records check to view the vehicle’s identification number, according to the report.
Its number had been replaced with a temporary tag returned to a 2006 Camry, police reported.
The vehicle reported as the man’s Toyota was actually listed as a stolen vehicle in Mesa, according to the report.
The man said he had bought the car and that he was trying to make bi-weekly payments of $200 to reach a total of $4,000, police reported.
A female passenger who had been in the car at the time of the arrest said that the man had told her the vehicle was a rental, according to the report.
The man was transported to Tempe City Jail where he was booked and held to see a judge, police reported.
Reports compiled by Aimee Plante.
Related Links:
Tempe Police: Man attempts to return stolen items to Walmart
Tempe Police: Belligerent man with handgun pees on bathroom floor
Reach the news editor at aplante@asu.edu or follow @aimeenplante on Twitter
Like The State Press on Facebook and follow @statepress on Twitter.
