A pair of 26-year-old men from Tennessee were charged on Sept. 19 in Sequoyah County District Court, Sallisaw, with unlawful possession of a controlled drug with intent to distribute and a misdemeanor count of unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia, according to court records.
An officer with the District 27 Drug Task Force made a routine traffic stop September 11 a quarter mile beyond the Vian exit after a car traveling east on Interstate 40 made a lane change without signaling.
The driver, identified as Rigoberto Santiago and his passenger, Donald Eugene Caldwell, were detained and the vehicle searched after Santiago admitted to using marijuana two hours prior to the stop.
That gave the officer probable cause to search the vehicle and upon conducting the search he found marijuana in vacuum sealed bags and a plastic container. He also found a vacuum heater sealer and plastic bags consistent with the packaged marijuana.
Santiago told the officer he had purchased the marijuana in Colorado with the intent to of travling back to Tennessee and reselling it there.
The vehicle was impounded and both men were transported to the Sequoyah County Detention enter where they were held on $11,000 bond.
