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Mahwah Police Officer Tyler Boucher spotted a small amount of pot in the lap of 37-year-old passenger McClendon Jones of Hartford after stopping a vehicle driven by Shian Anderson, 25, of Manchester on southbound Route 287, Police Chief James N. Batelli said.
Boucher also “smelled the odor of raw marijuana,” he said.
The officer ordered both out of the car after Jones “admitted to the officer that he had been rolling a blunt,” the chief said.
Boucher searched the car and found a jacket in the backseat with the cash in assorted denominations, Batelli said.
After changing his story, Jones admitted the jacket was his – but he gave the officer a bogus name and birthdate and couldn’t explain where the dough came from, the chief said.
When Boucher confronted him with this, Jones finally admitted his identity, he said.
It turned out that he was wanted in Connecticut on charges of pot possession and providing false information to police, Batelli said.
Anderson was released on a summonses for careless driving, having an open container of alcohol in a car and improper display of license plates.
Jones remained held in the Bergen County Jail after a detention hearing on the Connecticut warrant and charges out of Mahwah of money laundering, providing false information to police and drug-related counts.
The money was seized pending the results of a forfeiture hearing.
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