A couple was arrested and spent a month in jail after a field drug test on soap came back positive for Cocaine. Follow up lab tests had negative results.
NEW YORK (INTELLIHUB) —
Charges have recently been dropped against two friends who were falsely
accused of trafficking cocaine. When they were pulled over at a
traffic stop police found two packages of hand made soap which they
believed to be cocaine. After a false positive field drug test, the
couple were arrested and held in prison for over a month before follow
up tests had negative results.Last month 26-year-old Annadel Cruz and 30-year-old Alexander Bernstein were leaving New York City on Interstate 78 when they were stopped by police for driving 5 miles per hour over the speed limit.
After searching their car the police found 2 packages of soap that they thought were two kilos of cocaine. Annadel Cruz told them that it was soap, but when they tested the substance at the scene it apparently came back positive for cocaine. On the basis of this test both the driver and passenger were arrested and spent a month in jail.
“I think it is a nice car with out-of-state plates and a Hispanic female behind the wheel” that prompted the traffic stop, said Josh Karoly, who represents Bernstein. “If it was me driving that car, this wouldn’t have happened.”
Karoly said he believes the field test either didn’t happen, it was lied about or it was not done correctly.
“A young man spent a month in jail, spent a substantial amount of money to get out of jail and missed Thanksgiving with his 17-month-old son,” he said. “To do that on a field test, we better be darn sure that these field tests are accurate.”
“Anybody who drives under 60 miles an hour on I-78 has the chance of getting rear-ended,” Goldman said. “It was one of the worst probable causes for stopping.”
Sources:
[1] Drug suspects had soap, not cocaine bricks – The Morning Call
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