INDIANA — A Fort Wayne man is facing a felony drug charge after authorities say he was found transporting more than 18 pounds of marijuana while traveling home from Michigan earlier this week.
According to court documents filed in Allen Superior Court, Iran Cooper, 33, was pulled over Wednesday during a traffic stop north of Detroit. A police officer with the Shelby Township Police Department reported seeing black trash bags in the back of Cooper’s SUV that he believed contained marijuana.
Investigators believed Cooper was transporting the drugs back to Fort Wayne, prompting the officer to contact detectives with the Fort Wayne Police Department Vice and Narcotics Unit. Two undercover detectives determined Cooper’s likely route and later observed his SUV crossing the Indiana-Ohio state line on U.S. 24 shortly before 10 p.m.
Police said they followed the vehicle and observed it allegedly failing to maintain its lane. “At times the Defendant’s vehicle was observed traveling in both lanes of travel,” officers wrote in court documents. Cooper was then stopped, and officers said they could smell raw marijuana as they approached the SUV.
Cooper was taken into custody, and the trash bags were transported to the Fort Wayne Police Department’s Vice and Narcotics office. Investigators later determined the bags contained 18 separate packages of marijuana weighing a total of 18.6 pounds, with an estimated street value of $23,250. Police noted in court filings that the amount “far exceeds what a normal user would possess at one time.”
Cooper has been charged with Level 5 felony dealing marijuana. He is being held at the Allen County Jail without bond. His initial hearing was held Friday morning, and a trial setting is scheduled for Feb. 4.
