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

DATE: MONDAY, January 24, 1994                   TAG: 9401240070
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MIKE HUDSON
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

TRAFFIC STOP UNCOVERS BIG HAUL OF MARIJUANA

State police say a trooper who pulled over a car for using a radar detector this weekend in Montgomery County turned up more than a routine traffic violation - he discovered a stash of 117 pounds of marijuana.

The pot has a street value of $175,000, a state police spokesman said.

Sgt. Vern Jones said Trooper Joe Diamond spotted a radar detector on the dashboard of a car heading north Saturday night on Interstate 81 in Montgomery County. Radar detectors are illegal in Virginia. Diamond pulled the car over.

During the course of the traffic stop, Jones said, Diamond asked the two women inside if he could search the car. They agreed, and Diamond found two suitcases filled with marijuana in the trunk, Jones said. Diamond also seized $1,000 in cash.

Amelia Gonzalez Benavidez, 41, and Sagrario Godizez, 42, both of Dallas, were charged with possessing marijuana with intent to distribute. They are being held in Montgomery County Jail. Bond has been set at $250,000.

Jones said the marijuana seizure was one of the biggest in recent memory for state police in Southwest Virginia.

The traffic stop took place about 8:15 p.m. Saturday just south of I-81's Radford rest stop.

Jones said authorities had a report that a red van also may have been traveling with the car. However, police were unable to locate the van after an initial sighting.

by CNB