Five people were arrested and charged with drug-associated offenses in Westminster on Sunday in two incidents that started as theft reports.
In the first, city police were called to the first block of Sullivan Avenue to investigate the theft of a wallet.
Caroline Jean Delatush, 18, of Sykesville, told a city officer that she, Dana Lynn Valonis, 18, also of Sykesville, and James Lawrence Putman, 18, of Sullivan Road, had been sitting in her car on a parking lot when she discovered her wallet was missing.
The officer asked for, and got, permission to check under the seat in case the wallet had fallen between the seats.
The search did not turn up the wallet, but the officer reported finding a 12-ounce soda can that had been made into a smoking pipe, with residue and the odor of marijuana, under the front passenger seat.
The officer sent for a drug-sniffing dog, which signaled the presence of other drugs in the vehicle, police said.
A search revealed two more smoking pipes and a small amount of marijuana, police said. The three occupants of the car were arrested and charged with one count each of possession of drugs and possession of paraphernalia. Each was released by a court commissioner without being required to post bond.
In the other incident, city police were called to the Super Fresh Market on Englar Road for the theft of a carton of Salem cigarettes and were directed to a car with two people inside that was stopped at a traffic light on Woodward Road at the exit of the shopping center.
Officers who stopped the vehicle said they could see an open shopping bag on the floor and a carton of Salem cigarettes. The bag contained additional cartons of cigarettes and several rolls of film.
A search of the car revealed a can under the front seat fashioned into a pipe to smoke cocaine, police said.
The occupants, Nathan Jones, 36, of Woodlawn, and Jacqueline Williams, 30, of Baltimore, were arrested and charged with four counts of theft-shoplifting and one count of possession of paraphernalia. Both were held on $20,000 bond following a bail review hearing.
In charging documents, police said the pair admitted taking the cigarettes and film from two other stores, in Westminster and Eldersburg.