Anthony Hernandez
(PCSD file photo)
By Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — A 40-year-old Cushing man has been jailed on $50,000 bail pending a Sept. 11 court appearance at which he can seek a preliminary hearing on a charge of trafficking methamphetamine after a former felony conviction.
Anthony Robert Hernandez could be sentenced to two years to life in prison if convicted of drug trafficking in Stillwater after a 2018 conviction for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon by throwing a brick through a car window in Cushing, for which he was placed on five years’ probation except for 120 days in jail.
In his new case, Hernandez was arrested at 4 pm on Aug. 18 following a traffic stop in the 6300 block of E. 6th in Stillwater on an SUV in which he was a back seat passenger, a police affidavit said.
Stillwater Police Detective Josh Carson alleged in an affidavit, “I observed the paper tag was altered and the original numbers were changed to make the tag expire at the end of August.”
Hernandez “told me they were going to get Mexican food in Cushing, but did not know where,” the detective alleged in his affidavit.
After Stillwater Police Detective Newly McSpadden said that his K9 partner alerted to the odor of illegal drugs, the SUV was searched, the affidavit alleged.
“In a black handbag in the front passenger floorboard, I located a large amount of methamphetamine, packaging material and a set of digital scales. Anthony said all illegal items in the vehicle were his.
“I searched Anthony (Hernandez) incident to arrest and located a large amount of U.S. currency in his pocket,” in different denominations and consistent with drug dealing, Detective Carson alleged in his affidavit.
A total of 172 grams of the drug, which is nearly nine times the amount required for a methamphetamine trafficking charge, was seized along with $1,530 taken off Hernandez’s person, the affidavit alleged.
The driver and the other passengers were released, the affidavit said.
When he was interviewed in jail, Hernandez said, “he was going to sell the methamphetamine because he did not have a job,” the affidavit alleged.
