By Shavonne Walker

shavonne.walker@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — A Spencer woman was charged after she was found in possession of crack cocaine following a traffic checkpoint on Hollywood Drive and Grubb Ferry Road.

The Rowan County Sheriff’s Office charged Julia Yvette Robinson, 42, of the 1200 block of North Salisbury Avenue, with felony maintaining a dwelling or vehicle for controlled substances, felony possession with intent to manufacture, sell and deliver a controlled substance schedule II, misdemeanor driving while impaired, and misdemeanor no operator’s license.

When the driver, later identified as Robinson, approached the checkpoint, she stopped about 15 feet from the officer. The officer motioned her to come closer and she could be heard saying she didn’t have her license, said sheriff’s Capt. John Sifford.

The officer noted she did have an expired license and she had a strong odor of alcohol coming from the car. The passenger, later identified as William Alexander Turner, smelled of alcohol and the deputy found several empty bottles of vodka in the floor board where the passenger was seated.

Robinson told the deputy Turner had been drinking. Another deputy found 6 grams of crack cocaine on the ground beside the driver’s door. The officer noted the drugs fell out of Robinson’s lap as she exited her car.

She was ordered to perform a field sobriety test and failed, Sifford said.

Robinson became upset and blamed Turner for putting the cocaine in her lap before she got out of the car. She said she didn’t use the substance. Robinson had a .10 blood alcohol content, above the legal .08 legal limit.

She has since been released from the Rowan County Detention Center under a $5,000 secured bond. Turner, 39, who had a warrant for non-payment of child support, was also arrested and charged. He remains in the Rowan County jail under $858 bond, or the equivalent of the amount owed.

Robinson has previously been convicted of cocaine possession and driving related infractions as well as larceny, resisting arrest and providing fictitious information to law enforcement.