TEXARKANA, Ark–Federal charges have been filed against a Hope, Ark., man who was allegedly in possession of a bucket containing more than three pounds of methamphetamine during a traffic stop on Interstate 30 in Texarkana earlier this month.
Anthony Levelle Thomas Jr., 31, was allegedly driving eastbound on the highway at approximately 9 p.m. on March 11 when he was pulled over for a traffic violation by an Arkansas State Police trooper, according to a criminal complaint pending in the Texarkana Division of the Western District of Arkansas.
Thomas reportedly stopped the white Jeep Cherokee he was driving along the highway at mile marker 7, which is near the Arkansas welcome center in Texarkana. When the trooper stopped the Jeep, he allegedly noticed a marijuana cigarette behind Thomas’ ear.
The trooper searched the Jeep after having Thomas and a female passenger step out of the vehicle, according to the complaint. Inside the car, on the passenger-side floorboard, the trooper reportedly found a yellow plastic bucket that contained a plastic shopping bag that held three Ziploc bags, each of which allegedly contained a white substance.
Next to the yellow bucket was allegedly a bag that contained marijuana. The bags of alleged meth recovered from the yellow bucket weighed 1,390.5 grams, or a little over three pounds, the complaint said. The prosecuting attorney’s office in Miller County has taken steps to secure Thomas’ forfeiture of $2,310 which was reportedly seized from him at the time of his arrest March 11, court records show.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry Bryant appointed attorney Jeff Harrelson to represent Thomas at an initial court appearance last week in Texarkana’s downtown federal building, court records show. Harrelson waived the issue of detention on Thomas’ behalf and he is currently being held in the Miller County jail in Texarkana, Ark.
