By Jon Johnson
SAFFORD – A Tucson woman was booked into the Graham County Jail on drug charges Tuesday morning after an expired registration led to a search of her car.
According to a Safford Police report, an officer pulled into the Circle K at 1123 W. Thatcher Blvd. at about 2:42 a.m. and noticed a silver, 2005 Toyota sedan with a woman sitting in the driver’s seat had expired license plate tabs. A check also revealed that the car’s registration was expired.
The officer then approached the woman to talk to her about the tags and noticed she had a black smudge across her face and a box of tin foil on the passenger floorboard. Tin foil is commonly used to smoke pills and illegal drugs. Additionally, the officer believed the black mark was possibly from the soot that is left over when items are smoked on tin foil.
The woman, identified as Marcy Sanchez, 43, said she was visiting family and wasn’t able to locate a vacant hotel room. Sanchez appeared nervous and perhaps under the influence of some type of drug, according to the officer’s report. That, combined with the black streak and the fact the officer said he noticed some burnt tin foil in plain sight, resulted in Sanchez being detained and questioned further. A subsequent search of the vehicle and Sanchez’s purse yielded the tin foil with apparent burnt drug residue, a pen tube with apparent drug residue, a baggie with .5 grams of cocaine and a baggie with 3.5 grams of marijuana.
Sanchez was then arrested and booked into the Graham County Jail on charges of possession of a narcotic drug (cocaine), possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. The vehicle was removed from the scene by Magnum Towing.
