By Gary Ogle and Bob Strohm
gogle@wbcowqel.com; bstrohm@wbcowqel.com
Serious drug charges are pending against a Bucyrus man arrested following a routine traffic stop late Wednesday afternoon. Thursday, Jarrell Walker appeared in Municipal Court for a hearing. Walker was charged with first-degree felony possession of drugs and Judge Sean Leuthold set his bond at $1.5 million.
Walker is also charged with obstruction, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of marijuana and a stop sign violation.
With the aid of the Ohio State Patrol and its K-9 unit, and METRICH, Bucyrus police seized a significant amount of street and prescription drugs along with a large amount of cash.
Lt. Neil Assenheimer initially pulled the vehicle over for a stop sign violation at a cross street on South Sandusky Avenue in the vicinity of the Hy-Miler and UDF convenience stores.
“(It) looks like the reason the individual was leaving the area was a rendezvous with some other people familiar to us as a result of complaints regarding drug activity,” Bucyrus Police Chief David Koepke said.
Koepke said the rendezvous was behind the Hy-Miler. “The individual left the area aware of law enforcement.”
Reflecting upon how police could have reacted to another vehicle leaving the same area, Koepke mused, “We got the right one.”
Bucyrus police contacted the Ohio State Patrol who brought their K-9 unit to the scene. The dog indicated and a search of the vehicle ensued
Kopke said an estimated 80 grams of cocaine, commonly abused prescription medication and over $40,000 in cash was seized from the vehicle. A rough estimate of the street value of the cocaine is $25,000 according to police.
Walker is scheduled to have a preliminary hearing on Oct. 10. Leuthold appointed attorney Brad Starkey to represent Walker.