Police in Morris County were skeptical when a man they had just arrested insisted the cocaine, heroin and loaded gun found in his vehicle didn't belong to him — but it turns out, he was telling the truth.
Henry Patterson, 47, made an anonymous call to authorities Oct. 4 stating that he saw a man with a handgun and narcotics in the parking lot of ShopRite on East Hanover Avenue, Chief of Hanover Police Mark D. Roddy said.
Officers responded and observed a quantity of cocaine outside the vehicle, authorities said.
After receiving the driver’s written consent, police performed a search of the vehicle in question, which turned up ”significant amounts” of powder and crack cocaine, heroin and marijuana, as well as a loaded 9mm handgun, authorities said.
The driver was arrested but insisted the items were not, in fact, his, authorities said.
The man was then interviewed by Hanover Township Detective Bureau before being lodged at Morris County Jail, authorities said.
A follow-up investigation, witness interviews and reviews of surveillance footage and rental car records showed that Patterson, of Wharton, did in fact place the drugs and handgun in the other man’s vehicle.
Patterson was arrested and charged with filing a false police report, possession of a weapon for unlawful purpose, unlawful possession of a weapon, possession of cocaine, possession of heroin, and tampering with or fabricating evidence.
He was lodged at Morris County Correctional Facility.
The other man has since been released, authorities said.
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