By Deb Patterson
InkFreeNews

WARSAW — Kevin Cleon Clark, 48, 9845 N. 150W, Freemont, has been arrested on drug charges, warrants and giving police a false name stemming from a traffic stop Aug. 4.

He was arrested Thursday, Sept. 11, and booked in the Kosciusko County Jail on charges of possession of methamphetamine, possession of a controlled substance, possession of paraphernalia, two warrants from other counties and false informing. His bond was set at $5,950 surety and cash.

Kevin Cleon Clark

The charges stem from an encounter with police Aug. 2, in North Webster and a traffic stop. It was at that time, Clark used the name and date of birth for Chad Lane. A warrant that had been issued for Lane has been recalled

Clark was located in Syracuse Thursday, Sept. 11, by officers with NET 43 and Indiana State Police.

Court documents reported Aug. 2, a Warsaw Police officer, was participating in a county-wide detail and observed a 2004 Chevrolet Venture pass him in the 600 block of South Main Street. A check on the license plate found it had expired July 21 and a traffic stop was initiated.

The officer identified the driver as Chad Lane and the front-seat passenger was the vehicle’s owner, Julie Loubert. Loubert was on the phone at that time trying to get the vehicle registration updated.

Lane was asked to exit the van and stand by the officer’s vehicle to obtain further information. Information on both Lane and the vehicle’s owner were checked with no warrants being found. When the officer spoke to the Loubert, she stated she was not able to complete the registration update due to no WiFi. Loubert gave permission to search the vehicle, which reportedly contained everything she owned.

However, when she was asked to leave the vehicle to continue trying to register the vehicle, she requested to take a bag of trash to throw away along with a sweater. When she went to leave the vehicle, she attempted to hide a purple bag under the sweater. She claimed both bags were trash; however, the officer saw a clear plastic portion on the side of the bag with a bag labeled to contain marijuana.

The officer was given permission to search the vehicle and was the person identified as Lane.

The officer found a crystal residue in some of the bags, 32.8 grams of marijuana, .1 gram of meth, a broken pill identified as Clonazepam, numerous plastic bags with meth residue, a bag containing various paraphernalia items, burnt plant material, and a wallet with Kevin C. Clark’s state ID, which police were told had been left in the vehicle by Clark. They also found cigar packages filled with tobacco. While police were told the tobacco was being saved for a friend, it was believed the tobacco was being removed and replaced with marijuana.

Loubert, who was read her Miranda Rights, told police the meth was found on a park bench and she gets her marijuana from Michigan. She also told police she and Lane snort meth, which they had used two days prior to the traffic stop. Lane, who was also read his Miranda Rights, admitted to the marijuana in the vehicle and allegedly admitted to using meth occasionally.

Loubert, who was placed under arrest, gave police permission to allow Lane to take possession of the vehicle.

Loubert and Lane both informed the officer they were homeless at that time and living out of the van. The two were in a dating relationship and reportedly admitted to being drug users.

The investigating officer attempted to contact Clark to return the wallet and identification. The officer also requested the prosecutor file class B misdemeanor charges of possession of marijuana against Clark.

Things began to unravel Sept. 8 when the investigating officer in the Aug. 2 incident was asked to contact Chad Lane. Lane told police he was not the individual in the incident. The body cam worn during the incident was reviewed at the point where the driver claimed to be Chad Lane and had provided the name and date of birth.

It was at this time, the officer clearly observed the driver was not Chad Lane and quickly identified the person as Clark. It was also learned that Clark had an active warrant for his arrest.

A request was then made to charge Clark with identity deception in addition to the possession of marijuana charge.