ST. GEORGE — Two minor traffic violations led to the search of a vehicle after an open bottle of beer reportedly fell from the passengers lap as he exited the car during a recent early-morning traffic stop. A few miles north of the Utah-Arizona border, officers also discovered that one of the occupants was wanted on a felony warrant issued out of Ohio.
Last week, a Washington County Sheriff’s Deputy conducted a traffic stop of a vehicle on northbound Interstate 15 near the Port of Entry shortly before 2 a.m. on April 9 for an alleged license plate and lane violation, according to the probable cause statement filed in support of the arrests.
While speaking to the driver, identified as 38-year-old Sherree M. Atkins, of Mount Vernon, Ohio, she reportedly provided an account of where the pair was traveling, which turned out to be inconsistent with what the passenger had told officers.
When the passenger stepped out of the car, an opened bottle of beer fell to the ground, which provided probable cause to search the car for possible “additional open containers,” the deputy noted. The passenger was subsequently identified as Joshua Allen Shannon, 42, also of Mount Vernon, Ohio.
In the meantime, a K-9 was deployed to conduct a free air sniff around the exterior of the vehicle. The police dog alerted to the possible presence of illegal contraband near the driver’s side of the vehicle.
“I observed this change in behavior to be in the form of a head checking alert in this area” the deputy added.
During the subsequent search, officers found a loaded .38 special revolver under the front passenger’s seat, along with dozens of rounds of ammunition. In an area near the back seat, officers recovered three large plastic bags containing suspected methamphetamine, along with hundreds of smaller bags that were located in a “fake Kool-Aid container with a false bottom,” according to the report.
In the center console, a small clear baggie of suspected methamphetamine was found, along with glass pipes, digital scales and two pipes containing suspected methamphetamine, as well as other paraphernalia-related items that were found scattered throughout the vehicle. The items were seized as evidence along with both occupants’ cell phones.
Shannon reportedly told deputies that the drugs were his but the gun was not, while the driver said the gun belonged to her but the drugs did not. The suspects were each booked on second-degree felony possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance and third-degree felony possession of a firearm by a restricted person, along with possession of paraphernalia and an open container charge — each a misdemeanor.
Shannon, the passenger, also faces one count of unlawful possession of an identification of another person and providing false information to a police officer, charges that were added after he provided officers with his brother’s identification, the report states. He was also booked on a fugitive warrant issued out of Ohio on a drug and firearms tracking case filed there.
A request to hold both suspects without bail was approved by a no-bail hold order signed Wednesday. Both remain in custody at the writing of this report.
This report is based on statements from court records, police or other responders and may not contain the full scope of findings. Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.
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