September 14, 2007    Nashville, Tennessee
Canine sniffs out 90 pounds of marijuana during a traffic stop

Police dog Raven's keen sense of smell led to today's seizure of 90 pounds of marijuana from a car on I-40 in West Nashville.

Officer Jamie Scruggs, Raven's partner, stopped a 1998 Mitsubishi Gallant on I-40 west near the Bellevue exit at 10 a.m. for failing to comply with the move over law (another officer had a tractor-trailer stopped on the interstate). The Mitsubishi's driver, Jose DeJesus Ayala Villa, did not have a driver's license. Officer Scruggs asked if there were any drugs in the car. Villa said no. Raven then sniffed the outside of the vehicle and alerted to the presence of a drug odor. A subsequent search of the car resulted in the discovery of numerous wrapped bricks of marijuana hidden in the rear bumper and dashboard. Villa later told Officer Scruggs that he had been paid $200 to drive the marijuana from Memphis to High Point, North Carolina.

Villa, 29, of High Point, is charged with possession of marijuana for resale and driving without a license.  His bond is set at $77,000.

Source:Metro Nashville Police