Lang
12/3/21
North Liberty Police say they arrested two men with over 32 pounds of marijuana in their vehicle.
A 2005 Ford Focus caught the attention of officers while parked for an extended period of time just after 3am Thursday near the Penn Street and Interstate 380 interchange. The occupants, later identified as 56-year-old Herschel Whittaker of Sacramento, California and 28-year-old Herschel Fortier of Richardson, Texas, were seen waving their arms outside the car.
Investigators say they could smell marijuana coming from the vehicle. A search turned up a duffel bag in the trunk containing 32.75 pounds of marijuana in 32 separate bags. Personal amounts of marijuana were found in the passenger cabin. Both Whittaker and Fortier denied knowledge of the marijuana in the trunk.
Both men are charged with Controlled Substance Violations and Failure to Affix a Drug Tax Stamp. If convicted, they each face a maximum of ten years in prison.
While being booked into the Johnson County Jail, deputies allegedly found a baggie of methamphetamine in Whittaker’s pants. He faces an additional felony charge of Possession of Contraband in a Correctional Facility, which carries a maximum prison sentence of five years.