On Thursday, March 7 at approximately 5:30 p.m. Sapulpa Police Officer Kyle Masters was patrolling the area of East Hobson near North Main Street. He observed a black Nissan Altima failing to maintain its lane. He activated his emergency lights to initiate a traffic stop and the vehicle stopped near Hobson and Poplar.
Masters identified the driver as David Lopez (Defendant) and his passenger as Gregory Mitchell. He states that they both acted extremely nervous as soon as he made contact with them. He observed a large fixed blade knife in the center console near Lopez and a set of nunchucks tucked under Mitchell’s leg. Also suspicious, Mitchell continuously dug through his pockets despite being asked to stop.
Mitchell was removed from the vehicle by Sapulpa Police Sergeant Lowry to make sure he did not have any other weapons on his person. As Mitchell exited the vehicle, Masters saw him drop a small plastic container on the passenger seat. It was later found to contain individually-wrapped baggies of crystal meth.
Dispatch advised that Lopez had a confirmed warrant out of Sapulpa and that they could not confirm his car insurance. Both subjects had previous drug arrests and continued to act nervous throughout the encounter.
Masters deployed his K9 partner Valor to perform an exterior vehicle sniff for illegal substances, and he alerted to something on the driver’s side of the car. Masters searched the vehicle and found a wooden box containing a glass pipe with burnt residue and a pill bottle with David Lopez’s name on it which contained individually-wrapped baggies filled with a crystal-like substance. The bottle also contained 9 white pills identified as Carisoprodol, a schedule 4 controlled substance.
Next Masters located the plastic container Mitchell dropped when he got out of the vehicle. It also contained individually-wrapped baggies containing a crystal-like substances. Both baggies tested field-positive for methamphetamine.
Lopez was arrested on drug charges and taken to jail.
