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The first incident happened on Saturday, Feb. 8, around 1:30 a.m., when Town of Chester Police officers responded to a driver slumped over the steering wheel of a car stopped in the roadway at Kings Highway and Laroe Road., the department announced on Tuesday, Feb. 25.
Officers found the 38-year-old driver, Goshen resident Robert L. Coyle, disoriented, and after further investigation, determined he was intoxicated and operating with a suspended license, police said.
A search of the vehicle uncovered 6.5 pounds of marijuana stored in mason jars, vacuum-sealed bags, and plastic bags; THC oil and THC gummies; a scale; and more than $1,800 in cash in a backpack, according to authorities, who arrested the man. Coyle was charged with:
- Second-degree criminal possession of cannabis;
- Second-degree criminal use of drug paraphernalia;
- Driving with a blood alcohol content greater than .08 percent;
- DWI;
- Aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle.
Since none of these charges were eligible for bail, Coyle was released with an appearance ticket for court on Tuesday, Feb. 11—but failed to appear for his arraignment, police said.
Just two weeks later, on Sunday, Feb. 23, at 1 a.m., an officer pulled over a gray two-door sedan on Route 17M in Chester for having an inoperable headlight.
The driver? It was Coyle—still driving with a suspended license, according to the department.
Inside his car this time, officers found 10 mason jars of marijuana in plain view and more than $1,000 in cash, police added.
He was charged again, this time with third-degree criminal possession of cannabis and third-degree aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle. He was once again issued an appearance ticket and is due back in Town of Chester Court on Tuesday, March 11.
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