THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, July 30, 1996 TAG: 9607300286
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B9 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KATHLEEN CALLAN ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: 49 lines
A state trooper who thought he was stopping to help a stranded motorist instead confiscated about 55 pounds of cocaine and arrested the driver, police said Monday.
The cocaine has a street value of more than $2 million.
Annette Kielhurn, 38, was asleep in the rented 1996 Pontiac early Monday morning when Trooper Michael McCann spotted the car parked along Interstate 95 in Petersburg. Thinking the car was disabled, he stopped.
McCann said he was unable to awaken the woman, so he opened the car door and noticed she appeared to be drunk. He administered a Breathalyzer test, and the woman registered a blood-alcohol level of .18 - more than twice the legal limit. He arrested her on a public intoxication charge.
The trooper searched the vehicle and found a black, hard plastic suitcase with a green, soft-sided suitcase inside it. Inside that were 25 blocks of cocaine.
``When I found the item in the trunk, she denied knowing of it,'' McCann said. But he said Kielhurn gave him permission to open it.
McCann said he believes the woman knew what was in the suitcase.
It was difficult to get information from Kielhurn because of her condition, he said. She told several different stories about where she was coming from and where she was going, McCann said.
She also carried two driver's licenses: one from Long Island, N.Y., and one from Ocala, Fla., both in her name.
McCann said she had rented the car in North Carolina, but police did not yet know exactly where. Police believe she was driving to Washington, D.C.
Steve Berry, assistant special agent in charge of the state police, said authorities believe the cocaine originated in South America.
Police also found in the car more than $1,100 in cash, a suitcase of clothing in the back seat and a partially consumed six-pack of beer.
Kielhurn was being held Monday in Petersburg's city jail. In addition to the public drunkenness charge, she was charged with possession of cocaine with intent to distribute and transporting illegal drugs into the state. ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS photo
State Trooper Michael McCann and special agent Steve Berry stack
cocaine into a suitcase. A New York woman, found asleep in a car
along Interstate 95, was arrested after the drugs were found in the
trunk.
KEYWORDS: VIRGINIA STATE TROOPER DRUG ARREST COCAINE by CNB