Five Illinoisans arrested for cannabis on U.S. Interstate 80

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Five Illinoisans arrested late Sunday on U.S. Interstate 80 were, clockwise from upper left, Carlitos Clayton Miranda of East Moline, Illinois, who was charged with third or subsequent offense possession of a controlled substance-marijuana and tax stamp violation; Scott Allan Cook Sarazin of Moline, Illinois, charged with possession of a controlled substance; Geoffrey Vernon Devore of East William, Illinois, charged with possession of a controlled substance; Esmeralda Bernal-Aparicio of East Moline, Illinois, charged with possession of a controlled substance; and Ramiro Miguel Cedeno of Moline, Illinois, charged with possession of a controlled substance.

Five Illinois travelers were arrested Sunday night on U.S. Interstate 80 near De Soto after a stop for speeding led to drug charges.

Esmeralda Bernal-Aparicio, 23, of Silvis, Illinois, was charged with first-offense possession of a controlled substance.

Ramiro Miguel Cedeno, 25, of Moline, Illinois, was charged with first-offense possession of a controlled substance.

Geoffrey Vernon Devore, 25, of Solon, Illinois, was charged with possession of a controlled substance.

Carlitos Clayton Miranda, 24, of East Moline, Illinois, was charged with two counts of controlled substance violation and two counts of failure to affix drug stamp and was issued a citation for speeding.

Scott Allan Cook Sarazin, 27, of Moline, Illinois, was charged with possession of a controlled substance.

The incident began about 10 p.m. near the 110 mile marker of eastbound U.S. Interstate 80, where an Iowa State Patrol Trooper initiated a traffic stop on a 2020 Nissan Armada with Washington plates after the trooper’s “radar displayed that the vehicle was traveling 75 mph in a 70 mph speed limit zone,” according to court records.

The trooper made contact with the occupants of the vehicle and allegedly “could smell the odor of raw marijuana coming from inside of the vehicle,” according to court records.

Miranda, the driver, allegedly “admitted that there was marijuana inside of the vehicle,” and a probable cause search of the vehicle disclosed “several canisters and containers containing a green leafy/bud substance,” weighing about 42.5 grams, according to court records.

The search also disclosed “several (greater than 10) THC vape carts” and “THC oils and wax,” according to court records.

Miranda is held in the Dallas County Jail on a $20,000 cash or surety bond. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing Feb. 4 in Dallas County District Court.

Bernal-Aparicio, Cedeno, Devore and Sarazin are each held in the Dallas County Jail on a $1,000 cash or surety bond. Each is scheduled for a preliminary hearing Feb. 4 in Dallas County District Court.

*A criminal charge is merely an accusation, and the defendant is innocent until and unless proven guilty.

3 COMMENTS

  1. Good going, Iowa! Five more young people have felonies here in Iowa for weed legally purchased. That ought to hinder future college plans and many jobs that they could have had without that felony. With a little luck, we can even say Iowa prevented them from getting loans and maybe even prevented a few landlords from renting to them. Just makes you proud to say that you are from Iowa where we will get them evil weed smokers.

    • Sandy, yeah, I just graduated from UI with a business mgmt degree (HR track) and did this trip as a gift to myself for graduating. Funny, we call this the United States, but we are anything but States United. Very unprogressive weed laws in Iowa and just sad at this point. Now I’ll try to better the world another way not using my degree, I guess. And got this article out there forever. Must’ve been a slow day in the newsroom to report this lol.

      • Actually, you should be glad the press covered your arrest. Someone is popped for weed an average of once a week on the very same stretch of road you were. It’s almost always people of color involved. It’s always out of state plates. They’re pulled over for minor infractions. You hardly ever hear of an arrest when it’s all white people in the car. Either people of color are terrible drivers, or white people rarely smoke dope. It’s racial profiling at a known choke point, plain and simple. The new Dallas County jail and court facilities are also just a few minutes away from where you were arrested. They know that once you hit the Des Moines metro and the junction with Interstate 35, you’re much harder to catch. Tell all your friends about it. If they have only the smallest amount of weed for personal consumption, they must avoid Dallas County, Iowa, like the plague. The officers profile people of color and out of state plates. Anyone with weed on that section is low-hanging fruit.

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