Traffic stop results in arrest of Malvern man on felony charges
A routine traffic stop for failing to use a traffic signal resulted in the arrest of a Malvern man on felony and misdemeanor charges Thursday night.
Ricky Len Lambert, 48, was taken into custody shortly before 7:30 p.m. and charged with a felony count of unauthorized use of another person’s property to facilitate a crime, punishable by up to 20 years in prison, and possession of a controlled substance, meth, punishable by up to 10 years, and misdemeanor charges of possession of a controlled substance, marijuana, and possession of drug paraphernalia, punishable by up to one year in jail.
Lambert, who also had warrants for failure to appear and failure to pay, was being held on bonds totaling $11,750 and was set to appear Friday in Garland County District Court.
According to the probable cause affidavit, shortly before 7 p.m. Thursday, Hot Springs police Officer Jonathan Smith saw a blue 1999 Dodge Durango turn onto East Maurice Street from Gaines Street without signaling and made a traffic stop on the vehicle at the corner of Crescent Avenue and Pleasant Street.
He made contact with the driver, identified as Lambert, and female passenger, 31, and noted Lambert appeared to be “very nervous” with his hands shaking while locating his Arkansas ID card because his driver’s license was suspended. A computer check revealed the warrants, so he was taken into custody.
While taking everything out of Lambert’s pockets, Smith removed a rubber container and put it in the driver’s side door pocket. He asked Lambert if there was anything illegal in the vehicle and for consent to search and Lambert indicated the vehicle didn’t belong to him and he “wasn’t sure what might be in it.”
Smith told him he was going to get his K-9 partner, Bear, to perform a vehicle sniff to check for any illegal narcotics and at that point, Lambert allegedly said Bear would respond to the rubber container removed from him earlier because there was marijuana wax inside. Neither Lambert or his passenger had a medical marijuana card.
In searching the vehicle, a CVS medical container was found which had two plastic baggies in it, one containing 2.6 grams of what later tested positive for meth and the other containing 1.7 gram of marijuana. Inside the cup holder Smith reportedly also found a glass pipe and found marijuana wax residue in the rubber container.
Lambert reportedly stated everything found belonged to him and his passenger “knew nothing about it.”
In addition to the other charges, Lambert was cited for driving on a suspended license and for having a broken taillight.