Editor’s note: The trafficking charge against Christopher B. Hipp was dismissed as part of a deal in which he pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of marijuana, was sentenced to 364 days in jail, with all but 30 days suspended, and fined $2,000.
AUGUSTA — A Greensboro, North Carolina, couple spent the weekend in Kennebec County jail on a charge of marijuana trafficking after more than 5 pounds of pot was found in the trunk of their vehicle following a crash Friday afternoon near the Fieldstone Quickstop on Route 3 in China.
Suhaila J. Foteh, 31, and Christopher B. Hipp, 29, were held in lieu of $15,000 bail. Both had initial court hearings Friday at the Capital Judicial Center via video from the jail, and a judge then reduced bail to $7,500 cash each.
In an affidavit filed at the Capital Judicial Center, Maine State Trooper Niles Krech, who investigated the crash, said, “As I was around the vehicle, which had all of its doors closed, I could smell the overwhelming odor of fresh marijuana.”
Krech wrote that Hipp handed him a small jar of marijuana, but the smell around the vehicle remained strong.
Krech said that after Foteh and Hipp were taken to the hospital by ambulance, police looked in the trunk of the vehicle involved in the crash, finding a duffel bag in the trunk with “five large separate bags of marijuana in them. Each bag weighed 1.3 pounds for a total of over five pounds of marijuana.”
The two were taken to the jail after their release from the hospital.
Betty Adams — 621-5631
Twitter: @betadams
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