Traffic stop in Indian Land leads to drug trafficking arrest; young son was in truck

INDIAN LAND, S.C. — A traffic stop on U.S. 521 in Indian Land led to the arrest of Gerardo Rangel for trafficking marijuana after deputies discovered 17 pounds of the drug in his truck on Tuesday, the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office.

The incident occurred around 11:00 a.m. when a deputy from the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office Street Crimes Unit stopped Rangel’s 2007 Chevrolet Silverado for speeding, the sheriff stated Wednesday in a news release.

Upon stopping the vehicle, the deputy detected the smell of marijuana, prompting a search that uncovered multiple vacuum-sealed bags of marijuana.

The traffic stop happened near Del Webb Boulevard after the deputy clocked Rangel driving at 62 mph in a 45 mph zone.

Rangel’s young son was in the truck with him at the time of the stop.

During the search, deputies found a cardboard box in the rear passenger compartment and a larger box in the truck bed, both containing vacuum-sealed bags of suspected marijuana.

The total weight of the marijuana was 17 pounds.In addition to the drugs, deputies seized $10,043 in cash, which included $9,883 found in the truck’s center console and $160 from Rangel’s wallet.

Rangel was issued tickets for speeding and failure to provide proof of insurance. He was charged with trafficking marijuana 10-100 Pounds and taken to the Lancaster County Detention Center, where he posted a $50,000 bond and was released later that day.

“This routine speeding case turned into much more,” said Sheriff Barry Faile. “Our deputies are trained to be observant, and this deputy picked up on the smell of marijuana. That, coupled with Rangel’s surrender of a small bag of marijuana, gave the deputy probable cause to search the truck. It’s a little baffling that Rangel was speeding down Charlotte Highway openly carrying a lot of marijuana, but I’m glad he passed our deputy and we were able to get all this marijuana out of circulation.”

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