Cops: Man Left Pot in Our Car

A man left a bag of pot in the backseat of a Hopatcong patrol car, police said.

Goerge Gergatsoulis of Glenn Falls, N.Y., was charged with possession of a controlled dangerous substance.

Police said they pulled over a speeding car that swerved into the wrong lane on Lakeside Avenue on Oct. 16 around 11 p.m. The officer smelled raw marijuana coming from the vehicle, police said. Gergatsoulis was sitting in the backseat with two friends in the front, police said.

After the driver was asked to step out of the vehicle and was patted down, the driver denied the officer's request to search the vehicle, police said. The officer then had the police department check the names of each passenger for outstanding warrants, police said. Gergatsoulis had an outstanding warrant from Stanhope, police said.

Gergatsoulis was placed in the back of a Hopatcong patrol car, police said. The officer said he could smell marijuana coming from inside his patrol car after Gergatsoulis was put in it, police said.

Soon a Stanhope police officer came and picked up Gergatsoulis on the warrant, police said. But as the Stanhope officer escorted Gergatsoulis to his patrol car, the Hopatcong officer found a small bag of marijuana left behind in the backseat of his own patrol car, police said.

Gergatsoulis was brought back to the Hopatcong officer's car, where he at first denied the pot was his before admitting owning it after the Hopatcong officer told him he was being video recorded while in the backseat, police said.

The driver was charged with speeding and failure to keep to the right. Gergatsoulis was processed and released, police said.

For questions on this report, email brendan@patch.com.