Richland Park man fined $33 for cocaine possession

A RESIDENT OF Richland Park who claimed that he was unaware that a cigarette box he was carrying in his pocket contained wrappings of cocaine, was fined $33 for illegally possessing the substance.

Earl Lewis appeared at the Serious Offences Court before Chief Magistrate, Colin John, on May, 19, 2025 where he pleaded guilty that on May, 16, 2025 at Kingstown he had in his possession 0.9 grammes of cocaine, a controlled drug.

The facts outlined in court are that on the date in question at about 2:44 p.m, PC 1074 Richardson was among a party of Rapid Response Unit(RRU) and Narcotics Personnel headed by Sergeant 490 Chandler on mobile patrol duty about the Kingstown district. While in Little Tokyo in the vicinity of the lotto ticket booth, Lewis was seen walking from the back of one of the shops with a black plastic bag in his hand. It appeared that Lewis recognised the police and started to act suspicious.

PC Richardson approached Lewis with PC 175 Davis, identified them both as police officers and informed Lewis of their duties.

Officer Richardson requested a search of Lewis and the bag he was carrying. He consented, but when the officers conducted a search on his bag, nothing illegal was found.

However, while searching his person, PC Richardson found a red and white Empire cigarette box in Lewis’ right front pants pocket.

The officer opened the box in the presence of Lewis and PC Davis, and saw four aluminium foil wrappings which the officers opened in Lewis’ presence.

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