Traffic stop leads to $8,000 in cash, suspected painkillers, police say

Oak Ridge police allegedly found $8,000 in cash and an estimated $4,000 worth of suspected Roxicodone during a traffic stop last week for possible license plate and window tint violations.

A Wartburg couple, James P. Chase, 51, and Jennifer L. Marlowe, 26, were arrested and charged with possession for sale of a controlled substance.

Police said they pulled over a 2013 Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck driven by Chase on Oak Ridge Turnpike near Fairbanks Road on Friday afternoon because its tinted license plate cover violated state law and city ordinances, and the window tint appeared darker than allowed.

Officers became suspicious that Chase and Marlowe were involved in drug activity, according to an Oak Ridge Police Department incident report. A K9 officer checked the truck and indicated that there was an illegal drug odor coming from it, records said.

ORPD Officer John Thomas and other officers searched the vehicle. Inside a purse, they allegedly found a prescription bottle with 129 tablets of suspected Roxicodone, a painkiller. The label on the bottle had Marlowe’s name on it, but it was written for a different medication, Thomas said in warrants filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court.

The $8,000 in cash was found in bundles with the suspected drugs, Thomas said.

Marlowe was arrested and searched, and another 13 suspected Roxicodone tablets and cellophane paper were found in her pants pocket, the warrants said.

She was charged with possession for sale of a controlled substance, as well as simple possession for a half-tablet of suspected alprazolam.

Chase said the money was his, but he had a different explanation of where it came from than Marlowe did, Thomas said. The officer said Chase admitted to knowing that Marlowe possessed controlled substances while she was in his truck.

The two have a court date scheduled for 1 p.m. Sept. 24.

The ORPD incident report said the total value of the suspected Roxicodone was more than $4,000. Two iPhones found during the search were valued at close to $1,000 total, and the truck itself was valued at $65,000.