Great Mountain resident Riel Charleswell pleaded not guilty on Friday at Magistrates’ Court to possessing cannabis and unlawful explosives.
Mr. Charleswell, 50, was standing by his vehicle near Elmore Stoutt High School shortly after school let out on March 14, when police officers approached him and told him they suspected that he was supplying drugs, according to Police Information Officer Diane Drayton.
An officer found something in the defendant’s pocket that he admitted was a joint, said Crown Counsel Chantel Flax while reading the charges.
A search of the car yielded several more bags of the drug, which led police to obtain a search warrant for Mr. Charleswell’s home, Ms. Flax said.
When police searched his home, they allegedly found 75 more dime bags and eight rounds of 0.308 ammunition.
The defendant was arrested, charged, and released on $20,000 bail.
“I’m here to suppress all evidence against me,” the man announced from the prison box.
“How are you going to do that?” Magistrate Ayanna Baptiste-DaBreo asked.
“My rights were violated,” he said, to which the magistrate replied that he will have a chance to make that argument when he has his trial.
Ms. Flax asked that the trial not be held until October because the cannabis alleged to have been seized from Mr. Charleswell has not been tested yet. Because police don’t send illicit substances to be tested until the force has a certain amount, the next round of testing likely won’t be until September, she explained.
Ms. Baptiste-DaBreo agreed to Ms. Flax’s request, setting a trial date for Oct. 10.