By Nathan Hardin
nhardin@salisburypost.com
Two men were arrested late Thursday night after authorities say a license plate check led deputies to drugs.
According to a Rowan County Sheriff’s Office report, Jacob Robert McCoy, 24, was stopped at 3483 U.S. Hwy. 150 when Deputy Kevin Myers checked the license plate of McCoy’s 1990 Honda Accord. The plate was registered to a 1974 pickup.
Myers stopped the man and asked about the plate, the report said. McCoy, of 8570 Sunset End Road, replied that it was a “mess at the DMV” and said he had been stopped earlier in the week and given a warning for the fictitious plate.
As Myers spoke to the man, the deputy noticed a 24-ounce Bud Light can between the feet of a passenger, Stephen Perrien.
Myers asked for the can and reported that it did have liquid in it. McCoy did give consent to search the vehicle.
After patting down McCoy for possible weapons, Myers found a prescription pill bottle with 10 Percocet pills. McCoy could not produce a prescription for the pills.
Myers then searched Perrien, finding a small vial full of “a white powdery substance.” The deputy also found a small bag with the words, “Black diamond novelty,” imprinted on it. Inside the bag, Myers found another vial full of the same substance.
The deputy asked Perrien, 26, about the substance, and Perrien told him, according to the report, that it was “bath salts.” He also told Myers that he got it “from a shop in China Grove,” the report said.
Perrien, of 175 Bonanza Drive, had two outstanding warrants for arrest. He was charged with simple possession of “bath salts,” misdemeanor open container in the passenger area of a vehicle and failure to appear. He was given a $2,500 bond and was in jail Thursday morning.
McCoy was charged with felony trafficking opiate derivatives and felony maintaining a vehicle for keeping and storing drugs. He was given a $25,000 bond and was in jail Thursday morning.