MISSOURI STATE HIGHWAY PATROL
a division of the
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY

Troop E Headquarters - 4947 Highway 67 North - Poplar Bluff, MO 63901


News Release

For further information please contact: Sergeant Dale H. Moreland
(573) 840-9500
E012004
January 31, 2010

EMPHASIS: Traffic Stop On Interstate 57 Results in Drug Arrest



On January 18, 2010, at approximately 3:00 a.m., a member of the Missouri State Highway Patrol stopped a 1999 Nissan Maxima traveling north on Interstate 57 in Mississippi County for a traffic violation.
The driver Carmelo Derial, 37, of Kansas City, Kansas, was stopped for a traffic violation. During the course of the traffic stop, permission to search was requested and granted. A Patrol K-9 responded to the scene and gave a positive indication for drugs in the vehicle. During the subsequent search, three pounds of crystal methamphetamine was located. Derial and Jennifer A. Johnson, 26, also of Kansas City, Kansas, were arrested for possession of a controlled substance and drug trafficking, and taken to the Mississippi County Jail.
The charges for which Derial and Johnson were arrested are mere accusation and not evidence of guilt. Evidence in support of the charges must be presented before a court of competent jurisdiction whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.


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