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Federal prosecutors on Friday charged a Houston man with possession with the intent to distribute nearly 16 pounds of cocaine following a routine traffic stop in Willacy County.
Moses H. Ramirez Jr. made a first appearance in Brownsville federal court on the charge on Monday morning.
The criminal complaint said a Willacy County Sheriff’s Office deputy pulled Ramirez over last Wednesday at approximately 1:15 p.m. for not displaying a front license plate.
“Deputy contacted the driver of the vehicle and explained to him why he was being pulled over,” the complaint stated. “The driver stated that he did not know the front license plate was missing and that the vehicle did not belong to him.”
He told the deputy the vehicle belonged to his friend.
“The deputy asked Ramirez to step out of his vehicle to show him the missing front license plate,” the complaint stated. “Ramirez was going to be issued a warning citation for the violation and he was asked to step over to the Deputy unit so he could gather more information for the warning.”
Ramirez told the deputy that he was in the Valley because his father died.
“He was asked when his father passed away and he said last week. Ramirez was then asked how long has he been in the Valley to which he stated a couple of days,” the complaint stated. “He said he has been here since Tuesday of this week.”
This is when the deputy asked for consent to search the vehicle. Ramirez declined to give consent and a Texas Department of Public Safety K-9 was called to the scene where it alerted to the trunk area of the vehicle.
“The deputy opened the trunk area of the vehicle and could smell marijuana emitting from the trunk,” the complaint stated. “(The) Deputy observed that the carpet to the trunk area was loose. He was able to move the carpet out of the way from the side panels of the trunk and observed several rectangular bundles wrapped in clear wrapping and dryer scented sheets.”
Authorities recovered six bundles, which later tested and determined to be cocaine.
Ramirez is being temporarily held without bond.
