Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

City Stop Car, Find Dope Inside

Making a U-turn in front of a police officer landed a Prescott man in jail.

It wasn't so much the U-turn, but the subsequent finding of seven plastic bags filled with a green leafy substance believed to be marijuana.

According to court records, on April 15, Prescott Police Department's criminal investigator Morris Irvin had finished helping officer Ann Jordan on a traffic stop and was headed south on Highway 67 when a vehicle made a U-turn in front of him.

This led to a traffic stop. Irvin recognized the driver as John Jeffery Dorrough, 35, of Prescott. Irvin asked Dorrough for his driver's license and was told Dorrough didn't have one.

Irvin then ran a check on Dorrough to find out the status of the license. Around this time, Nevada County Sheriff's deputy Danny Martin arrived and asked Dorrough if he could search the vehicle.

Dorrough consented, telling the officers he was on the way to the Henry Hale Club. He then asked them to stop searching, which they did.

However, when they stopped, they placed him under arrest for driving on a suspended license and took him to the Nevada County Jail.

Crews Wrecker Service was called to tow the vehicle to an impound lot. While filling out an inventory on the car's contents, a brown fast-food bag was found in the trunk. The bag contained seven plastic bags filled with the aforementioned green leafy substance believed to be marijuana.

Dorrough was then charged with possession of a controlled substance, namely marijuana, with intent to deliver.

This is a class C felony with a possible sentence of four to 10 years in prison and a fine up to $10,000. He was also cited for driving on a suspended license, a misdemeanor offense.

Dorrough bonded out on $10,000 bail.