A fictitious registration plate apparently did little to keep a North Carolina vehicle from attracting attention in the middle of the night. Rockingham County deputies say spotting the plate led to a traffic stop that ended with two felony drug arrests and a third person cited.
Deputies with the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office Patrol Division stopped the vehicle near NC-14 and Silver Leaf Trail in Reidsville at approximately 2:17 a.m. on September 18. The sheriff’s office says deputies initiated the stop after noticing the vehicle was displaying a fictitious registration plate.
Deputies identified the driver as 37-year-old Antonio Rashard Totten, and his passengers as 25-year-old Destani Lee Blackwell and 35-year-old Tamara Harris Key. During the investigation that followed, deputies say they discovered suspected narcotics and drug paraphernalia inside the vehicle.
Totten was arrested on charges of felony possession of fentanyl and possession of drug paraphernalia, while Blackwell was arrested on a felony cocaine possession charge. Key was not taken into custody and instead received a citation for possession of drug paraphernalia.
Totten and Blackwell Ordered Held Without Bond
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Following their arrests, Totten and Blackwell were taken before a Rockingham County magistrate. The sheriff’s office says both were issued no bond because they were already on pretrial release at the time of the traffic stop.
Both were subsequently placed in the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office Detention Facility. The department’s release does not identify the cases for which Totten and Blackwell were already on pretrial release or provide additional information about those proceedings.
A search for additional jail information concerning the arrests did not produce any further publicly available details. As a result, the sheriff’s office release remains the available source for their custody status following the September 18 arrests.
Fake Plate Turns Into 3 Drug Cases
While deputies say suspected narcotics and paraphernalia were found inside the vehicle, the department assigned different charges to each of its three occupants. Totten faces the fentanyl and paraphernalia charges, Blackwell faces the cocaine charge, and Key received only the paraphernalia citation.
The sheriff’s office did not disclose the quantities of suspected fentanyl or cocaine recovered, where inside the vehicle either substance was located, or what additional investigation was conducted during the stop. Its release also does not indicate whether anyone was charged specifically for the fictitious registration plate that deputies say prompted the encounter.
What began as deputies noticing a questionable plate ultimately left two occupants in the county detention facility without bond and a third facing a citation. The charges against Totten and Blackwell remain accusations, and the sheriff’s office release does not establish a conviction for either defendant.
Another North Carolina Vehicle Call Uncovered 108 Grams of Meth
This isn’t the first recent North Carolina investigation covered by Guessing Headlights where something involving a vehicle led officers to considerably more than they initially expected. In Kenly, police responded to a report of someone possibly tampering with a vehicle on September 9 before officers said they discovered approximately 108 grams of suspected methamphetamine.
Police identified the man in that case as 43-year-old Jonathan Marchal and said suspected methamphetamine was recovered both from him and a backpack he was wearing. Officers also recovered a glass pipe, and Marchal ultimately faced several charges, including trafficking in methamphetamine and possession with intent to manufacture, sell, or deliver a Schedule II controlled substance.
The circumstances are different, but both cases demonstrate how quickly a relatively ordinary vehicle-related encounter can develop into a felony narcotics investigation. You can read our previous coverage, Police Find 108 Grams of Meth After Responding To Vehicle Tampering Call, for the full story.