CHINA GROVE – Sheriff’s deputies arrested a Kannapolis man early Monday morning when they reportedly found him driving a stolen truck and under the influence of marijuana.
China Grove resident Allison Ruth Barnhardt, reported Sunday morning that a Dodge Dakota pickup truck was missing after she had parked it on Red Rose Lane off N.C. 152 in Mooresville. The vehicle belonged to her mother, Carol Ruth Barnhardt, of Patterson Road.
Around 12:45 a.m. Monday, deputies and China Grove police saw a vehicle matching the description going east on N.C. 152 and stopped it near the intersection of Patterson Street in China Grove.
According to the report from the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office, the driver was Matthew Scott Lucas, of 485 Dakota Drive in Kannapolis. Lucas, 20, reportedly told deputies he borrowed the truck from a friend whose name he did not know.
The sheriff’s deputies said Lucas’ eyes were bloodshot and glassy and his speech was slurred. When they asked him if he had consumed any alcohol or drugs, he told them he had smoked marijuana earlier, the report said.
He was placed under arrest for driving while impaired after taking standard field sobriety tests, and he was then taken to the hospital to have blood drawn for testing.
The report said a search of the truck revealed two small plastic bags of marijuana in a console. Lucas was given additional charges of felony possession of a stolen motor vehicle, simple possession of marijuana and operating a motor vehicle without a license.
He was placed in the Rowan County Detention Center under a $4,000 bond. Lucas was still listed as an inmate Tuesday morning.