Teens Busted With More Than 1/2 Pound of Pot

Two teenagers were arrested Friday after police said they found them in possession of more than a half-pound of marijuana and more than $1,200 in a car on Prospect Street in Naugatuck. 

The teens from Woodbridge and Ansonia, whose names were not released because of their ages, were pulled over in a Chevy Suburban at 5:21 p.m. by officer Nick Kehoss, who recognized the Ansonia teen driving the car and knew he was not supposed to have passengers in his vehicle because he is only 16 years old and just recently got his license.

When the teen rolled down the window, Kehoss smelled reported that he an odor of marijuana, according to a police report. Things got worse for the teens when the driver opened his glove box to retrieve a registration card and a bag of marijuana became visible, police said.

Kehoss called for backup and officers searched the car, where they found more marijuana stashed under seats, along with $1,235 in cash, police said. All told, police found 10.5 ounces of marijuana, which has an approximate street value of between $4,000 and $6,000, depending on several variables, including how it is bagged and sold, plus the potency of the drugs.

The teen from Woodbridge, who is 17, was charged with possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of drugs within 1,500 of a school zone and illegal sale of drugs. The teen from Ansonia was charged with three of those four counts; he was not charged with illegal sale of drugs.

Both were released to the custody of their respective parents. They have court dates at Waterbury Juvenile Court later this month.

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Three days after making the drug bust mentioned above, Officer Kehoss was injured on duty Monday. He and another officer were running out of the Naugatuck Police Department headquarters on Spring Street to stop a domestic disturbance argument between a man and a woman that was occurring in the parking lot of the police station.

When police opened the door, the man and woman quickly got in a car and took off.

As Kehoss was running toward the couple, he tripped and fell face first over a concrete walking path that leads to the front door of the police department; he seriously injured an ankle, police said.

Kehoss, who is 25 and has been with the department for about two years, was brought to the hospital with a severe sprain or fracture, police said.

The people involved in the domestic incident were not caught and that case is still under investigation, police said.

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The above information was supplied by the Naugatuck Police Department. No arrested person is guilty until so judged in a court of law.