Cops, COs, find drugs hidden in man's pants

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

A man who was taken to the Mahoning County jail on drug charges Sunday evening had more charges added after police and corrections officers found pills and suspected cocaine hidden in his pants.

Police took Antwan Howell, 24, of Youngstown to the jail after his arrest on drug charges during a traffic stop at Wirt Street and the Madison Avenue Expressway about 8:35 p.m.

When Howell was taken to the jail, reports said officers asked him if there was anything he had on him before he was booked. Reports said Howell told police no, but when he got out of the back seat of the cruiser there was a bag of marijuana on the floor of the back seat.

Once inside the booking area, pills started falling from Howell’s pant leg, reports said, until eventually 30 Xanax pills were recovered, reports said. Howell then tried to walk away and would not stop. He was taken to the ground by corrections officers, reports said.

He then changed in another room, and a bag of suspected powdered cocaine and a bag of suspected crack cocaine were found in the back of his pants, reports said.

Howell was a passenger in a car that was stopped for having no license-plate light, reports said. Reports said there was a strong odor of marijuana coming from the car, and Howell had loose marijuana on him. When he was taken out of the car, police found a scale, a bag of suspected marijuana and a bag of suspected heroin.

Howell was booked into the jail on charges of having an open container because of a can of beer inside the car he said was his; possession of drugs/heroin; possession of drugs/cocaine; possession of drugs/crack cocaine; possession of drugs/marijuana; and conveyance of drugs into a detention facility.