A traffic stop earlier this week on I-12 yielded a large quantity of marijuana and cash.
At Approximately 9 p.m. Sunday, a deputy with the St. Tammany Sheriff’s Highway Enforcement Unit conducted a traffic stop on a red 2015 Chevrolet Silverado with a Texas license plate, on Interstate 12 Eastbound just west of the Highway 1088 exit.
The driver and sole occupant of the truck, Jorge Valeriano of Ceres, Calif., told the deputy he was traveling from Gatesville, Texas, to Birmingham, Ala., to find a job as an ironworker.
However, a consensual search of the vehicle uncovered 46 vacuum sealed bags containing approximately 51 pounds of suspected marijuana concealed inside of two suitcases and one plastic container within the bed of the truck.
Valeriano was also found to be in possession of $1,457 believed to be proceeds of illegal narcotics transactions.
He admitted to having knowledge of the suspected marijuana and was arrested and booked into the St. Tammany Parish Correctional Center on numerous drug counts.
