Crime & Safety

Police: Driver Blames Grandma for Alleged Pot Container

Officer's suspicions aroused when occupants did not get out of parked vehicle for several minutes, police said.

A 19-year-old Oak Lawn man was charged with possession of cannabis after police found a Tupperware container with suspected marijuana remnants  during a traffic stop, reports said.

Oak Lawn police observed a 2003 Ford Taurus parked outside a gas station occupied by three males who never left the vehicle around 10:57 p.m. Oct. 24.

After waiting several minutes, the officer pulled behind the car in the parking lot. Police said the car quickly left the lot and headed southbound down Cicero.

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The officer pulled the car over as a “suspicious vehicle” at Cicero and Oak Center Drive.

The driver, identified as Richard Oliver, 19, said he was on his way to meet up with friends known to police as “documented drug dealers,” reports said.

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While speaking to Oliver, the officer said he could detect a faint odor of cannabis wafting from the Taurus.

The officer asked Oliver for permission to search his car, which Oliver denied, police said. Advised that the officer would be calling in a police K9 for a free air sniff, Oliver said the cop could search his car, reports said.

The four occupants stepped outside of the car. Upon searching the vehicle, police said the officer found a plastic Tupperware container with remnants of suspected shake.

The officer also found what appeared to be “raw cannabis” behind the driver’s seat, reports said.

Asked about the Tupperware, Oliver allegedly told police: “It’s my grandma’s. She keeps spices in it.”

Oliver was asked a second time about the container, who denied knowledge of his grandmother smoking pot, reports said.

According to the police, after the officer located several more small pieces of suspected cannabis under the driver’s seat, Oliver asked to see what the officer had found.

The officer watched Oliver brush all of the located pieces off the driver’s seat into the street, which could not be recovered, police said.

Oliver was issued a village citation of possession of cannabis under 30 grams. He has a hearing at village hall on Nov. 19.




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