Investigation results in drug charge

A warrant was issued Wednesday for the arrest of a Poplar Bluff woman wanted for drug- and weapon-related charges stemming from an earlier traffic stop.

Erica Renee Justice, 34, was charged with the Class E felony of unlawful use of a weapon, the Class A felony of first-degree drug trafficking, two Class C felonies of delivery of a controlled substance and the Class D misdemeanor of unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia by Butler County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Derek Spencer.

Justice, who was not in custody at press time, will have her bond set at $150,000 cash or surety.

Justice is charged in connection with a traffic stop that was made at about 4 p.m. Monday by officers with the Poplar Bluff Police Department and Butler County Sheriff’s Department.

Justice

The officers, according to police Lt. Josh Stewart’s probable-cause statement, were attempting to find James Michael Cohen in “association with a homicide investigation that occurred in Butler County.”

Stewart said officers obtained information regarding a location for Cohen, and he and Butler County Lt. Charles Phelps began conducting surveillance on a 2014 Ford Explorer believed to be in use by Cohen.

The SUV, he said, was found stationary and unoccupied in the 600 block of Kinzer Street.

Cohen

“After a short time, Lt. Phelps and I observed Mr. Cohen enter the driver’s seat of the vehicle,” Stewart said. A woman, later identified as Justice, also got in the SUV.

Stewart said officers followed the SUV and subsequently conducted a “investigative stop.”

“Upon contacting Mr. Cohen, Patrolman (Trevor) Parks detected the odor of marijuana emitting from within the vehicle,” said Stewart, who indicated he also detected the odor upon his arrival at the scene.

Stewart said he told Cohen of “our intent” to speak to him regarding the ongoing murder investigation of Jeramine Johnson.

Cohen, 32, of St. Louis subsequently was taken into custody and taken to the police department.

Stewart said he then told Justice to get out of the SUV as a search of it was to be conducted.

“As I began conducting the search, I observed two digital scales in the center console,” Stewart said. “Both were covered with a clear crystalline residue, consistent with ‘ICE’ methamphetamine.”

Stewart said he also saw a blue/green purse in the rear, passenger floorboard.

“I retrieved the purse, which was heavy, and unzipped,” Stewart said. “In doing so, I observed a jar containing a small amount of suspected marijuana, a handgun and a plastic bag containing an unknown substance, inside the purse.”

At that point, Stewart said, he stopped his search and requested a tow company respond to his location. The SUV reportedly was towed to a secure location pending the application and execution of a search warrant.

Justice reportedly was arrested and later released on Tuesday.

During the execution of the search warrant, Stewart said, a small container of suspected marijuana and nearly $750 in U.S. currency were among the items officers found in the SUV.

A Taurus 9mm, with 12 live rounds of ammunition; suspected ice methamphetamine; suspected heroin; multi-colored, various shaped tablets; and oblong white pills were among the items found in the blue/green purse, Stewart said.

“The purse was also found to contain mail and a prescription bottle bearing the name of Erica Justice,” Stewart said.

When officers field tested the substance believed to be ice methamphetamine, the results were positive for the presence of meth, said Stewart.

The suspected methamphetamine, Stewart said, weighed about 109 grams (nearly 4 ounces), while the heroin weighed about 11 grams.

Stewart said there also were “a large quantity of Ecstasy tablets. These quantities are consistent with distribution weight, as opposed to personal use.”

Cohen, according to Stewart, is known to area law enforcement “to be involved in the distribution of illegal substances.”

Cohen was charged Tuesday with the Class A felony of first-degree drug trafficking, two Class C felonies of delivery of a controlled substance and the Class A misdemeanor of possession of drug paraphernalia.

Cohen, according to court personnel, posted bond the same day he was charged. His bond had been set at $200,000 cash or surety.

Cohen is to appear on March 4 before Associate Circuit Judge C. Wade Pierce for arraignment on his charges.