CLEARFIELD – A Michigan woman accused of trafficking drugs through Clearfield County will have her charges held to court following a preliminary hearing on Wednesday.
Laverna March is charged with possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, intentionally possessing a controlled or counterfeit substance by a person not registered, use or possession of drug paraphernalia and driving while operating privilege is suspended or revoked.
State trooper Eric Guido testified that while on Interstate 80 westbound he attempted to pass a vehicle. He noticed that the plate on the vehicle was not securely attached, and subsequently initiated a traffic stop.
He said the woman in the vehicle could not produce a driver’s license and that the vehicle was registered to someone else. Guido said the woman gave him two variations of the same name at different times with differing dates of birth. She later provided troopers with her license. Guido said that she said she was afraid because she was driving under suspension.
Guido said he had called for back-up at one point. Guido issued her a citation for driving under suspension and told her she was free to leave. Before she left he said he asked her if she would speak with him about her trip. Guido said she consented and he asked her if she was hiding drugs, firearms or money. He asked to search her vehicle and she reportedly consented to that as well.
Guido testified that he found a small bag containing a brown substance in the glove box.
The trooper testified that a search was done in the vehicle’s trunk as well. Inside investigators found a suitcase, which March admitted to owning. Guido said that inside the suitcase were clothes and other items. A compartment of the luggage was opened revealing a hooded sweatshirt and blue jeans. Inside the sweatshirt troopers found bags with a smiley face on them. Inside one bag was a brown substance and in the other a white substance.
Guido said they were sent to the state police crime lab for testing.
Inside the jeans a large black bag was found. Inside that a Ziplock bag with five smaller bags, each about the size of a baseball, of a brown substance. One tested positive for heroin. A police K-9 also indicated to the bags as being positive for drugs.
Magisterial District Judge Michael Rudella bound all charges to court. After a bail modification argument, he also reduced her bail from $200,000 to $100,000.
She is currently in Clearfield County Jail.