(Breaking news) Police allege man planted cocaine in truck

Monday, Oct. 19, 2009

St. Mary's grand jurors have indicted a Hollywood man on a charge of distributing cocaine, according to detectives alleging he planted the drug last year in a couple's truck.

Benedict Ignatius Clarke, 72, faces arraignment next month on the indictment, issued with a summons after all charges filed against the North Carolina couple visiting St. Mary's were dismissed and narcotics officers reinvestigated the matter.

Police reports state that a Hollywood woman, once employed by a Prince George's County judge, acknowledged during questioning earlier this month that the suspect called her on Nov. 2, 2008, to tell her he had put cocaine under the pickup truck's seat and for her to telephone the sheriff's office.

Lawmen acting on the tip stopped the truck on a Mechanicsville road and found 10 small plastic bags of cocaine with a total street value of $1,000, police reports state, and the couple insisted from the onset that they had no knowledge that the drugs were in the vehicle.

jwharton@somdnews.com