A Taylor man faces drug charges after a traffic stop Wednesday, according to Scranton police.
According to the criminal complaint:
A Chevrolet Traverse traveled north on Providence Road toward the North Scranton Expressway at about 5:30 p.m. The turn signal remained illuminated for about a half mile after the vehicle entered the expressway. Officers stopped the vehicle in the Notch.
Officers smelled marijuana as they spoke with the woman driving and the passenger, Derek James Greenfield, 36. They saw a metal grinder commonly used to grind leaf marijuana before smoking it in the vehicle’s console.
Officers asked the driver and Greenfield to step out of the vehicle. They noted Greenfield appeared nervous and was shaking.
Greenfield said the driver had picked him up and he admitted he had been drinking. He told officers the marijuana inside the vehicle belonged to him.
The driver gave officers permission to search the vehicle. Officers found $5,353, 27 grams of marijuana, a metal grinder containing two grams of marijuana, baggies containing four grams of marijuana, vaporizers and THC wax.
Greenfield said the two had been with a friend assisting with moving items to a storage locker.
When asked about the large amount of cash in the vehicle, Greenfield said he doesn’t trust banks and withdrew about $500 each time he was paid.
When asked to pull up his bank account information on his phone, Greenfield originally said he would, but then changed his mind.
Greenfield, of 7 Roosevelt Drive, is charged with felony possession with intent to deliver marijuana and possession of paraphernalia.
He remains at Lackawanna County Prison in lieu of $50,000 bail.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 9:15 a.m. on Nov. 20 before District Judge Paul Ware.