A 25-year-old Brandon Township man seen snorting drugs in the parking lot of a local gas station recently is facing a possession of cocaine charge, less than 25 grams.
Ryan Hobbs was arraigned on the charge on March 10 in front of 52-2 District Court Judge Kelley Kostin.
According to police reports, at about 3 a.m., March 10, a Brandon deputy responded to the gas station in the 1700 block of Ortonville Road after an anonymous witness said two people were ‘doing coke lines in a car.?
Upon arrival, the deputy saw the suspect vehicle unoccupied. About a minute later, Hobbs and a female exited the business and got into the vehicle. The deputy stopped them after observing objects hanging from the rearview mirror and obstructing the driver’s view.
Hobbs said he had picked up his female passenger from work and they went to a bar and had several drinks. He said they were at the gas station for about 30 minutes, but were only smoking. When told what the anonymous caller had said, Hobbs claimed he had not done anything illegal and didn’t know why someone would say he was doing cocaine. Hobbs added that he doesn’t do coke anymore and continued by saying that it had been two weeks since he’d done coke. He went on to say that there may be plastic bags that contained cocaine in the vehicle, but they were empty. He also added that he was not a dealer.
The deputy could smell a strong odor of intoxicants and the female passenger said she didn’t do any cocaine, but suspected that Hobbs did.
A K-9 unit arrived and four plastic bags were found in the center console, two of which contained traces of cocaine.