A routine traffic stop by a state trooper in Alabama has led to the arrest of a suspected drug dealer in Temple Hills and the recovery of 10 kilograms of cocaine and thousands of dollars, police said.
Jerry Leroy Butler, 31, and Jose Oscar Torres were charged with drug trafficking, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt.
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Federal prosecutors said an Alabama state trooper pulled over a maroon Ford F-250 pickup truck last week after the officer said the vehicle was swerving between lanes on Interstate 65. The driver appeared nervous and was shaking, police said. Torres allowed the trooper to inspect the vehicle, police said.
In the external fuel tank in the bed of the truck, police said they found a false compartment containing 10 kilograms of cocaine.
Under further questioning by Drug Enforcement Administration agents, Torres said he was transporting the cocaine to Prince George’s County. Torres, who knew Butler only as “Patron,” had given him the pickup in Maryland and met him in Houston to help load the cocaine into the truck, documents said.
He agreed to cooperate with the investigation, police said.
The agents drove Torres to Maryland in his truck along with one kilogram of the seized cocaine. In Temple Hills, Torres called the designated phone number and was told to meet at a Wendy’s fast-food restaurant. On the way there, one of Butler’s associates pulled up in a Mercedes- Benz and told Torres to follow him. But after driving for several blocks, Torres pulled back and the Mercedes vanished in heavy traffic, according to charging documents. Police are still looking for the driver.
Meanwhile, federal agents were serving a search warrant at a home on the 5000 block of Saint Moritz Drive. Butler drove up in front of the home and stared at the agents, pulled away, then returned. He was then stopped and arrested. Agents later learned that in November, police at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport seized $16,685 from Butler after they suspected that the cash had been used in a drug transaction, documents said.
