A weekend vehicle stop for a license plate violation led police to charge three men with drug and impaired driving offenses.
A Salisbury Police officer stopped a vehicle at East Innes and North Lee streets Sunday after midnight because the car had an illegal license plate bracket, a report said. The officer approached the car and smelled marijuana coming from the vehicle.
The driver, Robert Anthony Gaither, 47, of the 1100 block of West Horah St., was charged with misdemeanor driving while impaired.
Police say the vehicle actually belonged to Jeffrey Wayne Bost, also 47, of Cleveland, who was sitting in the front passenger’s seat. Bost was charged with simple possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia, both misdemeanors.
Another passenger, Lonnie Antoine Silfford, 45, of the 200 block of Dan Street, Salisbury, was charged with simple possession of marijuana and resist, obstruct, delay an officer, both misdemeanors.
The officer asked if anyone had been smoking marijuana and one of the men answered they’d smoked the drug about 20 minutes before being stopped. The report said Sifford tried to reach into his pants pockets and the officer ordered him to remove his hands.
Sifford was asked to turn over any drugs he may have been carrying. He refused. Sifford had tucked some marijuana underneath his seat. He was asked to step out, but refused again. The officer removed Sifford from the vehicle and found 8.6 grams of marijuana underneath the seat.
Gaither stepped out of the vehicle without resistance. An officer found a small amount of marijuana in the center console of the car.
Gaither has since been released under a $500 bond. Sifford remains in the county jail under a $2,000 bond. Bost remains in the jail under a $1,000 secured bond.