By Pat Culverhouse

Driving on city streets with bright lights on one end of a vehicle and none on the other has resulted in a pair of Minden men now facing a laundry list of drug and weapons counts.

Chief of Police Jared McIver said MPD officer Jessica Thompson observed a vehicle with its lights on bright, then noticed the vehicle had no tail lights. The officer initiated a traffic stop shortly before 11:30 p.m. Friday.

While checking identifications of the vehicle’s occupants, Officer Thompson reportedly learned the driver, 45-year-old Brian Raynard Hudson, had active warrants issued by the Webster Parish Sheriff’s Office. He reportedly was placed in custody.

Thompson also learned the passenger was 45-year-old Dexter Donnell Walker. Walker had given the officer a different name at the time the initial traffic stop.

Other officers arrived to assist and Hudson reportedly consented to a search of his vehicle. During a search, the officers found illegal narcotics in several pill bottles located throughout the vehicle.

Also discovered were bags containing marijuana, methamphetamines and a syringe in a compartment behind the glove box. Also in the compartment reportedly was a semiautomatic handgun.

Combined, the men are facing 17 charges relating to illegal narcotics and weapon possession.

Hudson, a resident of the 600 block of District Dr., is charged with possession CDS Sch. I (marijuana), possession CDS Sch. II (methamphetamines), possession CDS Sch. IV (Xanax), possession of Legend drug (Chlorphenramine), illegal carrying of weapon in presence of CDS, possession of a firearm by convicted felon, fugitive from Webster Parish Sheriff’s Office, traffic charges. His total bond is set at $20,000.

Walker, who lists a residence in the 200 block of Syrup Mill Rd.,  is looking at charges of possession of CDS Sch. I (marijuana), possession CDS Sch. II (methamphetamines), possession CDS Sch. IV (Xanax), possession CDS Sch. II (crack cocaine), illegal carrying of weapon in presence of CDS, possession of a firearm by convicted felon, obstruction of justice, resisting an officer. Walker’s total bond is $10,500.

Both are currently being held in Bayou Dorcheat Correctional Center.

This information has been provided by a law enforcement agency as public information. Persons named as suspects in a criminal investigation, or arrested and charged with a crime, have not been convicted of any criminal offense and are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.