ELLICOTT - Two Jamestown men are facing felony drug charges which likely could have been avoided if the snow was brushed off the front license plate of the vehicle they were traveling in.
Gary L. Green, 35, and Raymond B. Taylor, 37, both of Jamestown, were charged with second-degree criminal possession of marijuana, a class-D felony, on Wednesday afternoon.
Around 1:37 p.m., New York State Trooper Jason Cresanti was on routine patrol driving north on Route 60 when he saw a 2003 Chevy Impala traveling south that appeared as if there was no front license plate, despite the New York registration in the window.
He turned his marked patrol car around, and continued in the same direction as the Impala without activating his lights. The Impala turned into the Kwik Fill gas station by Exit 12, and Trooper Cresanti pulled in behind it.
He explained that when he stopped and talked with Green, who was driving, he learned the license plate was indeed on the vehicle, just covered with snow.
Trooper Cresanti said he smelled a "very potent" odor of marijuana and when questioned, Taylor's admitted that he had recently smoked marijuana. Since Cresanti is the K-9 trooper with the Jamestown barracks, he ran his German Shepherd Garro by the Impala.
The dog hit hard on the trunk area, he explained, and that's where the 4-year-old narcotics-detection dog allegedly found just over three pounds of marijuana, which according to the Southern Tier Regional Drug Task Force, has a local street value of more than $5,000 when sold in small denominations.
The car, which apparently belonged to a relative of Green's girlfriend, was impounded and the duo was held at the Jamestown barracks awaiting arraignment in Ellicott Town Court.
Green and Taylor were arraigned in front of Ellicott Town Justice Marilyn Gerace and committed to the Chautauqua County Jail without bail upon the recommendation of Chautauqua County ADA John Zuroski.
Trooper Cresanti's dog Garro is named after Trooper Gary E. Kubasiak, who was killed in the line of duty in Gowanda in the early 1980s.
