By Pat Culverhouse

A traffic stop for driving with one headlight escalated into serious charges against a Cullen man after a Webster Parish deputy reportedly found drugs and an illegal weapon in his vehicle.

Sheriff Jason Parker said Sgt. Hannah Baker stopped 24-year-old Lamar Torrez Norton just after 9 p.m. Monday for the traffic offense and immediately noticed a strong odor of marijuana inside the vehicle.

When the deputy advised Norton that a probable cause search would be performed, he reportedly admitted a bag of marijuana and a firearm were inside the vehicle. A search confirmed the presence of marijuana, plus a firearm with a “switch,” a modification making the weapon fully automatic.

A further search uncovered a bottle of pills which were confirmed as Oxycodone.

Norton reportedly is being held at Bayou Dorcheat Correctional Center where he is charged with possession of CDS Sch. I (marijuana), possession of CDS Sch. II (Oxycodone), possession of a machine gun and possession of a firearm in the presence of CDS. Bond has not been set.

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.

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