Salisbury Police charged two after officers assisted N.C. Highway Patrol during a traffic stop over the weekend. The stop occurred early Sunday in the 300 block of East Innes Street when a trooper stopped the driver of a pickup for driving while impaired.
Salisbury Police charged Brandon Tyler Cochrane, 21, of the 200 block of Dew Lane, Gold Hill, with felony possession of stolen goods, misdemeanor carrying a concealed weapon, felony possession with intent to manufacture sell, deliver a controlled schedule VI substance and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia.
The Highway Patrol also charged Cochrane with driving while impaired. He was issued a $25,000 secured bond and remains in the Rowan County Detention Center.
Police also charged Michael Todd Collins, 44, of the 400 block of Collins Road, China Grove, with felony possession with intent to manufacture sell, deliver a controlled schedule VI substance and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia. He was issued a $10,000 secured bond and has since been released from the county jail.
The police were called to assist the trooper with a search of Cochrane’s Dodge pickup that contained four people, including one person who was riding in the truck bed.
A report said when Cochrane was asked to step out of the vehicle, a marijuana grinder fell out of the vehicle onto the ground.
His passenger, Michael Collins, was also asked to step out and a plastic bag containing marijuana fell onto the ground. He had two marijuana pipes with marijuana residue inside, a small marijuana roach and $235 in his back pocket.
Officials did not find any substances on a female passenger inside the cab of the truck and a male passenger in the bed of the truck. They were not charged.
Police also found the following — a rifle behind the front driver’s seat hidden under clothes, plastic bags with 12 grams of marijuana, a jar with 11 grams of marijuana in the back on the floor behind the passenger, a jar with 10 grams of marijuana inside found in an ammo can, a hookah smoking device in the tool box.
Police Capt. Shelia Lingle said the gun was reported stolen five years ago in Rowan County.
Contact reporter Shavonne Potts at 704-797-4253.