DNREC’s Delaware Natural Resources Police Environmental Crimes Unit arrested two Wilmington men on New Year’s Eve.
On December 31, 2019, officers initiated a traffic stop on a vehicle driven by Jamar Smith, 30, of Wilmington along Route 1 southbound
After pulling the vehicle over and making contact with Smith and his passenger Joseph B. Coverdale, also of Wilmington, a DNREC ECU officer detected an odor of marijuana. The officer searched the vehicle and the two occupants which yielded 27.39 grams of crack cocaine and 1 gram of marijuana, according to police.
As a result of the traffic stop, Smith was charged with one count each of the following: manufacture/delivery of, or possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance in a tier 3 quantity; conspiracy second degree – agreement to engage in felony criminal conduct; possession of drug paraphernalia not related to personal use quantity of marijuana; possession of marijuana, and failure to signal continuously when moving right, left, or turning.
Coverdale was charged with one count of each of the following: manufacture/delivery of, or possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance in a tier 3 quantity; tampering with physical evidence; conspiracy second degree – agreement to engage in felony criminal conduct; possession of drug paraphernalia not related to personal use quantity of marijuana; and possession of marijuana.
Coverdale was as found to have had multiple warrants outstanding with the Wilmington Police Department for the following charges: robbery first degree; possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony; carrying a concealed deadly weapon – firearm; conspiracy first degree; burglary second degree; and resisting arrest.
Following the traffic stop and initial charges, the Delaware State Police Governor’s Task Force and Delaware Probation and Parole conducted a search of a residence on Deville Circle in Wilmington that yielded 11 bags of heroin and a loaded 9-mm handgun, officials said Friday.
In connection with the Deville Circle residential search, Smith was also charged by Delaware State Police with one count each of the following: possession, purchase, own or control of a deadly weapon, semi-automatic weapon, or automatic weapon by a person prohibited, who also possesses a controlled substance; possession, purchase, own or control of a firearm/destructive weapon if previously convicted of two violent felonies on separate occasions; possession, purchase, own or control of a firearm or ammunition by a person prohibited due to a prior violent crime or felony conviction; and possession or consumption of a controlled or counterfeit substance except human growth hormone without a prescription; and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child by committing a Title 16 offense with a child in the dwelling.
Both men were video-arraigned by Justice of the Peace Court 7 in Dover. Smith was committed to the Sussex Correctional Institution in Georgetown on $26,226 secured bond. Coverdale was committed to the same facility on $78,400 cash bond.