From Staff Reports
Pauls Valley Democrat
A big pile of neatly packaged illegal marijuana is what authorities found in a vehicle driving through Garvin County last week.
Behind the wheel of the truck was Edwin Lynn Skipper Jr., 41, of Aubrey, Texas.
Skipper is now formally accused of trafficking marijuana after agents with a district drug task force found about 133 pounds of the stuff in the bed of the truck.
The discovery came during a traffic stop in the early morning hours of March 21 as the vehicle was traveling southbound on Interstate 35.
The stop came a couple miles south of Pauls Valley as agents reported smelling an “overwhelming” odor of raw marijuana and air fresheners coming from the vehicle.
A filed report shows Skipper claimed it was a rental truck he was driving from Dallas to Oklahoma City to gamble.
When a K-9 dog alerted on the vehicle a search came up with the sealed packages of marijuana in the back.
Skipper was then arrested as a single felony count was filed the next day in Garvin County District Court. He was also given a $25,000 bond as Skipper’s next court appearance in the case is scheduled for next month.
Marijuana was also at the heart of another case as two occupants in a stopped vehicle gave false names to state agents during a traffic stop March 20 a few miles north of Pauls Valley.
The vehicle’s driver claimed his name was Steven Rodriguez, which was later determined to be false as his real identity is Justin Daniel Whisman, 40.
A female passenger claimed to be Ginger Prado as agents with the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics later learned she is really Destiny Elizabeth Rodriguez, 23.
When asked for paperwork on what was claimed to be a rental car with a Texas plate, agents reported seeing a glass jar containing marijuana when the glove box was opened.
Agents also found two envelopes containing around $20,000, which they suspect is involved in illegal drug transactions.
In their report, agents said an empty suitcase found in the vehicle appeared to have marijuana residue.
On one of the cell phones confiscated agents said a caller’s ID included the words “OKC Plug.”
“It is common to call the source of supply a ‘Plug,’” agents reported.
Both defendants now face three charges each, including felony counts of possessing drug proceeds and falsely impersonating another.