By Pat Culverhouse
A Minden man apparently managed to swallow his way out of drug-related charges, but that effort didn’t help him avoid a cell in the parish prison.
Chief of Police Jared McIver said 72-year-old Bobbie Ray Johnson apparently gulped down bags of suspected illegal narcotics while being questioned at a traffic stop around noon Friday.
McIver said Johnson, a resident of the 400 block of Russell St., was pulled over by Officer Cody James for failure to stop at the posted sign at the intersection of Sheppard and Fort streets.
During questioning, the officer noticed Johnson appeared to have something in his mouth which caused his speech to sound abnormal. Johnson reportedly continued to keep his head down and speak as if he had something in his mouth.
Johnson reportedly partially opened his mouth to respond to a question and the officer observed what appeared to be two small plastic bags on his tongue. The bags appeared to contain a white, rock-like substance consistent with crack cocaine.
When the officer noticed the bags inside his mouth, Johnson reportedly abruptly jerked his head back and swallowed the bags. He reportedly refused to answer when the officer asked what was contained in the bags.
He reportedly was transported to police headquarters where EMT personnel evaluated and checked vital signs.
Johnson is being held at Bayou Dorcheat Correctional Center where he is charged with failure to obey stop and yield signs and felony obstruction of justice. No bond has 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.