Probe of strange noise in trunk yields drug bust

MIDDLETOWN — Authorities who recently stopped a vehicle for a violation discovered evidence of drug sales in a nearby car when they searched the trunk due to a strange noise coming from inside, according to police.

Officers conducted a motor vehicle stop on Main Street June 9 at 6 p.m. after following two cars, one of them an Infiniti M35 which allegedly had license plates that belonged on a Chrysler 200 sedan.

Authorities followed the other vehicle, a Lincoln Town Car, into the rear of a Main Street business lot, then determined the driver, Kareem A. McDaniel, 40, of Rapallo Avenue, was not involved in the incident. They then allowed him to walk into a nearby building, the report said.

An officer standing 20 feet away alleged he heard the Lincoln’s alarm going off, and, upon investigation, heard a banging noise coming from the vehicle’s trunk as the car was “jumping up and down” about a halfinch, in time to the banging.

Authorities wrote in the report they thought there might be something alive inside, such as an animal, and called the fire department to help open the trunk.

Police said McDaniel yelled from a nearby apartment that the car was his mother’s, then questioned why they were trying to get into the truck. A search reportedly turned up a cooler and boxes, but nothing alive in the trunk, which smelled of marijuana.

Officers found a marijuana cigarette in the car’s passenger area, two bags, one with 4.6 grams of cocaine (worth $92) and another with 16.4 grams of crack cocaine (worth $1,640); a bag of marijuana weighing 4.6 grams, $179 in cash, and iPhone that constantly received texts, two saying “need half a ball and “Can U come for a 20 if U R arnd.”

They also allegedly found two “concealment devices” — bottles of Arizona strawberry and watermelon iced tea with a hollowed-out area.

A witness told officers McDaniel was the building superintendent, the report said.

Police said the source of the noise was the partially unlocked trunk reacting to the pressing of the car’s key fob. Upon arrest, McDaniel allegedly said he had a medical issue and was taken to Middlesex Hospital.

McDaniel has a pending case in court with charges of first- and third-degree burglary, second-degree criminal trespass and sixthdegree larceny, according to judicial records.

He has been convicted for interfering and resisting arrest, several counts of illegal drug sales, first- and second-degree assault, probation violation, criminal impersonation, seconddegree forgery, reckless endangerment, several counts of narcotics possession and breach of peace, police said.

McDaniel, who was charged with possession of narcotics, possession with intent to sell, distribution of controlled substances, use of drug paraphernalia, and possession of less than a half-ounce of marijuana, was released on a combined $350,000 bond and issued a June 19 court date.