Staff Report

WARSAW — A traffic stop led to the discovery of drugs and the arrest of two people.

Todd Cooley

Todd Allen Cooley, 48, 834 Fulton St., Kalamazoo, Mich., is charged with manufacturing methamphetamine, a level 4 felony; possession of methamphetamine, a level 6 felony; and possession of marijuana, a class B misdemeanor. 

On Oct. 31, at approximately 4:49 a.m., a Warsaw Police officer observed a dark-colored Chrysler PT Cruiser traveling on Detroit Street. The vehicle did not have a license plate attached. 

The officer conducted a traffic stop on the vehicle, which pulled in at the Subway parking lot on North Detroit Street.

The officer approached the vehicle and spoke with the driver, identified as Cooley, and a female passenger. The female passenger was complaining of facial numbness.

When the officer inquired if there were illegal drugs in the vehicle, Cooley allegedly indicated there was marijuana in the vehicle. A partially burned marijuana joint was found in the vehicle. 

The officer had the occupants exit the vehicle and requested that EMS come to evaluate the woman.

Cooley then told the officer that there was a methamphetamine lab in the vehicle. He said it was behind the center console and said the woman was not aware of it.

A search of the vehicle was conducted, and police found a plastic bottle behind the center console which was consistent with a bottle used in the production of methamphetamine. Cooley said he had started manufacturing methamphetamine in the bottle approximately seven hours earlier. He also told police there was finished methamphetamine in the sun visor on the driver’s side of the vehicle. 

Police found a coffee filter containing a white crystal-like substance that field-tested positive for methamphetamine. 

Cooley told police he only manufactures methamphetamine for personal use. A glass smoking device containing meth residue was found in the compartment on the passenger’s side door. 

Cooley was placed under arrest and taken to the Kosciusko County Jail. The woman was taken to the Kosciusko County Hospital.

Police interviewed the woman once she was released from the hospital. The woman admitted to ingesting methamphetamine in a glass smoking device on Oct. 27. She was then placed under arrest. 

Cooley was booked at the Kosciusko County Jail on a $15,520 surety and cash bond.