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Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Sonora PD Pres Release re: Drug and Warrant Arrest

Date and Time of Release: 30 December 2013
Date and Time of Incident: 27 December 2013
Subject: Drug & Warrant Arrests
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27 December 2013, at approx. 3:53 pm, an officer was patrolling the Wal-Mart parking lot, when he observed a vehicle parked in a disabled parking stall, which didn’t have a disabled placard displayed.
The officer contacted a female subject who was walking towards the vehilce. The subject was identified as Vernell Stokes, 31 of Sonora. Sitting in the vehicle were Stokes’ two young children, along with Leah Summers, 33 of Twain Harte, and Matthew Carlile, 32 of Tuolumne.



Stokes admitted to the officer that she didn’t have a placard to park in the disabled persons parking stall. During their conversation, Stokes admitted to having Vicodin in her purse, which she didn’t have a prescription for. As the officer was searching Stokes’ purse, he located multiple small plastic baggies containing methamphetamine, along with a pipe used for smoking methamphetamine.
At this point Stokes started yelling at an uninvolved red Ford vehicle in the parking lot. Once Stokes realized the officer had located the methamphetamine, she yelled to her son’s to run toward the red Ford. At this same time, Carlile exited the vehicle and took off running through the parking lot. The officer chased Carlile and was able to catch him in the area of the Garden Department of Wal-Mart. Carlile refused to comply and a physical confrontation occurred between the officer and Carlile. A nearby citizen assisted the officer in detaining Carlile.
After Carlile was detained, he gave a false name. Later, it was determined that Carlile had two outstanding felony warrants for his arrest. One was a No Bail warrant for burglary and the other warrant was for possession of stolen property. Carlile is also on probation for possession of a controlled substance.
When the officer returned to the vehicle, he learned from witnesses that Stokes had dumped out the methamphetamine, then tossed the empty baggies down a storm drain, and stopped on the pipe breaking it. The officer was able to retrieve the baggies, one of which still had methamphetamine in it.
However, Stokes and Summers had left the area of the vehicle. A short time later, officers located Stokes walking through the parking lot towards the red Ford, which had picked up Stokes’ children. Stokes was taken into custody. During a search of Stokes’ vehicle a stolen credit card was located.
It was determined that Summers had also given the officer a false name. It was learned that Summers has a No Bail warrant for her arrest for violation of probation, but Summers was not relocated and is still outstanding.
Stokes was transported to the Tuolumne County Jail and booked for felony possession of a controlled substance, felony possession of a controlled substance for sale, felony conspiracy, felony child endangerment, and several misdemeanor violations.
Carlile was transported to the Tuolumne County Jail and booked on the two outstanding felony warrants, felony conspiracy, misdemeanor resisting arrest, and misdemeanor giving false information to an officer.