An Anne Arundel County officer who stopped a car for speeding near Baltimore-Washington International Airport Wednesday morning ended up making what may have been the biggest cocaine seizure in county history, authorities said yesterday.
Officer Samuel Sweet of the Northern District was led to a hotel by Leroy Stanford Gittens, 28, the driver he had stopped for speeding. In the room, he found $300,000 worth of nearly pure cocaine, police said.
Charles Harris, 24, of Decatur, Ga., was arrested and charged with possession with intent to distribute cocaine and transporting drugs into Maryland. Anne Arundel District Judge Essom Ricks set bail for Mr. Harris yesterday at $300,000.
Mr. Gittens was charged with possession of cocaine and was ordered held at the Anne Arundel County Detention Center on $100,000 bail.
Officer Sweet stopped a 1988 Pontiac at Elkridge Landing Road and West Nursery Road shortly before 11 a.m. The driver had no license and gave Officer Sweet a false identification card, the officer said. The patrolman said his suspicions were aroused when the man couldn't give his Social Security number and date of birth. He later was identified as Mr. Gittings, police said.
Officer Sweet reported that the Pontiac's trunk had a special lock of the type that is used by drug dealers. The officer called for a drug-sniffing dog, which acted as if it had smelled drugs, even though none were found in the trunk.
Mr. Gittens also had a pager, a portable telephone and directions to a room at the Holiday Inn Express Hotel in the 7400 block of Ridge Road. There, a man later identified as Mr. Harris agreed to let Officer Sweet search the room. The patrolman found a substance in the man's luggage that tested positive for cocaine, police said.