BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — A man was arrested after a traffic stop by the Baton Rouge Police Department on Saturday, Feb. 10 before 6:15 p.m. on 69th Avenue.
Charles Lee, 53, of Baton Rouge was charged with illegal possession of stolen firearms, possessiondistribution manufacturing schedule I, illegal carrying of weapons with CDS, possession of alcoholic beverages in motor vehicles, possession of firearm or carrying concealed weapon by a person convicted of certain felonies and switched license plate.
BRPD said the stop happened after the vehicle was found to have an expired license plate and a turn signal on the driver’s side which was not working. The responding officer saw an open beer can in the vehicle.
Lee got out of the vehicle and was searched by the officer. During the search, a handgun that was reported stolen in 2022 was found on his person. Through further investigation, BRPD learned that Lee was not allowed to have a gun because he was a convicted felon.
A search of the vehicle uncovered the open beer can and “two black vacuum sealed packages that had a texture and feel of compressed marijuana,” according to the affidavit.
The packages were searched and 2.4 pounds of marijuana was found by BRPD. They also found that Lee had $3,872.
BPRD would also learn through the investigation “that the license plate on the car was switched and did not belong on the vehicle,” according to the affidavit.
The Baton Rouge man was booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison on Saturday, Feb. 10. As of the publishing of this article, he remains in jail on $13,000 bond.