
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, March 9, 1992                   TAG: 9203090118
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Southwest Bureau
DATELINE: WYTHEVILLE                                LENGTH: Short

TRAFFIC TICKET LEADS TO DRUG SEIZURE, ARRESTS

An Alabama man stopped by a state trooper Sunday in Wythe County for speeding apparently was nervous over more than a possible speeding ticket.

After further investigation, police seized about $350,000 worth of cocaine, crack cocaine and hashish found hidden in a car being driven by John Hinds, 20, of Birmingham, Ala.

Trooper L.F. Valley said he stopped the car, with Hinds and two other men in it, at a Wytheville exit after it was clocked on radar at 86 mph. He said the driver became nervous and started to shake while a citation was being written.

Valley said he then took the car to a Wytheville garage where a state police drug-sniffing dog discovered the drugs hidden under the dash and floorboards of the car and in the pockets of one of the occupants.

Hinds and the other two men - John Staten, 20, Brooklyn, N.Y., and Jeff Taylor, 25, of Birmingham - were charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute and with possession of a firearm during drug trafficking. Police also seized two pistols and $100 in cash.

The three are scheduled for arraignment today.

by CNB