2 arrested after Portage County K-9 helps find methamphetamine

CHARLESTOWN TOWNSHIP, Ohio (WOIO) - Portage County K-9 Hulk helped lead to over half a pound of methamphetamine being seized and the arrest of two people in a traffic stop, the sheriff’s office confirmed.

K-9 Hulk’s handler conducted the traffic stop for a registration violation on SR-5 in Charlestown Township on Jan. 14, according to the Portage County Sheriff’s Office.

Indicators of criminal activity were observed during the course of the traffic stop, which led to K-9 Hulk being deployed, said PCSO.

PCSO said K-9 Hulk’s open air search of the outside of the car made him positively alert his handler to the presence of narcotic odor.

The search of the car led to his handler seizing approximately 250 grams of methamphetamine, according to PCSO.

PCSO identified the driver as a 40-year-old Hudson man who was just released from state prison six months ago after serving a six-year sentence for trafficking in drugs.

He was arrested along with the passenger, according to PCSO.

PCSO identified the passenger as a 30-year-old Uniontown man who had five felony warrants through the Summit County Sheriff’s Office and one misdemeanor warrant through the Copley Police Department.

The sheriff’s office’s federal partners at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives were contacted due to the amount of methamphetamine seized, PCSO said.

PCSO said the driver had about $1,700 in currency on him, which was seized for forfeiture.

Case was adopted by the ATV and the driver is being charged federally, according to PCSO.

“Sheriff Bruce D. Zuchowski not only takes pride in his expansion of the K-9 Unit due to its ability to make seizures such as this, but in his partnerships formed with the ATF and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio,” PCSO stated.