What began as a traffic stop for a minor speeding violation, escalated to a rural Austin motorist found to be driving a vehicle with an expired license plate from another vehicle, and then things went from bad to worse for Ronnie L. Cox, 58, of North Slab Road.
Shortly before midnight, Tuesday, Jan. 31, Scott County Sheriff’s Deputy Kacey Reschar clocked a dark colored Dodge Dakota traveling 27 mph in a 20 mph zone on Hyland Street in Scottsburg. When he ran the license plate it came back to a green Chevrolet truck.
After Reschar stopped the vehicle, he asked the driver, Cox, if he knew why he was being pulled over.
“Probably cause my plates are wrong,” Cox responded, according to the probable cause affidavit. Reschar responded that he was also speeding.
When the deputy asked for his driver’s license and registration, Cox told the officer “I don’t have any of that.”
Reschar said in the court document as Cox was exiting his vehicle, he reached into the truck’s center console, retrieved a small plastic bag containing a white substance, and shoved it in his right front pocket.
Retrieving the plastic bag, the deputy asked Cox “what was in the plastic baggie and he stated, ‘It’s meth’,” according to the court document.
Tests confirmed the substance to be 2.16 grams of methamphetamine, according to the probable cause document.
Cox was booked into Scott County Jail around 12:30 a.m. last Wednesday.
Deputy Prosecutor Mark Kiesler charged Cox with possession of methamphetamine, maintaining a common nuisance, operating a vehicle on a false plate, driving with expired plates, driving without a license, failure to use seat belt, and speeding.
Magistrate Alison Frazier set Cox’s bond at $15,000.