A routine traffic stop on the Indiana Toll Road Thursday morning led an inquisitive trooper to approximately 90 pounds of marijuana.

Indiana State Police K-9 Trooper Nicholas Meade stopped a U-Haul rental truck for a traffic infraction near the Elkhart East exit around 9:40 a.m. on Nov. 29. The driver of the vehicle, Kelly Sullivan, 39, of Nehalem, Ore., was traveling in the small box type U-Haul truck from Oregon to New York.

Trooper Meade became suspicious of the man’s story and ran his K-9 partner Sabre around of the outside of the vehicle. Sabre made a positive alert indicating that the vehicle may contain illegal drugs.

Trooper Meade searched the passenger compartment of the U-Haul truck and found a small amount of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. He also noticed that the rear door of the truck was secured with a padlock. Sullivan said that he did not have a key and was unable to open the lock.

Trooper Meade arrested Sullivan for misdemeanor possession of marijuana and possession of paraphernalia. Sullivan was transported to the Elkhart County Jail where he is being held on bond. Trooper Meade was in the process of completing a search warrant in order to gain access to the locked portion of the U-Haul when he received a telephone call from Brian Kraynik.

Kraynik explained to Meade that he was the one who rented the truck. Kraynik said that he was driving to New York with Sullivan, following in another vehicle. He went on to say that he put several pounds of marijuana in the back of the truck without the knowledge of Sullivan. Kraynik turned himself into authorities at the Toll Road State Police Post.

Meade accessed the rear of the truck to find 13 boxes that contained 90 pounds of marijuana. The marijuana has a street value of approximately $4,000 to $5,000 per pound.