A deputy in Springfield Township was commended by her commanding sergeant after sharp instincts led to the arrest and arraignment of two suspected drug dealers recently.
Mark William Canter, 43, and Julie Ann Dennis, 30 both from the Gaylord, Mich. area, were arraigned in Oakland County after about 26 cocaine rocks’also known as crack’were discovered in the couple’s possession.
‘That’s a lot of cocaine,? said Sgt. Mark Gardner of the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office Springfield Township substation. ?(The deputy) took the time to look into a situation that just didn’t seem right, and with her knowledge and experience on the job she could see that the information (the couple) was giving just didn’t add up, it wasn’t jiving.?
Deputy Dawn Mullins was patrolling Springfield Township around 1 a.m. Fri., March 23 when she spotted the couple sitting in a vehicle behind the Sunoco gas station at I-75 and East Holly Road.
Due to the close proximity to the freeway, and the nervous behavior of the individuals, Mullins radioed for back-up and proceeded to question the individuals, who gave conflicting reports about where they were coming from, and why they were carrying two-way radios in the vehicle.
Canter expressed a sudden, urgent need to use the restroom, and fearing the man wanted to dispose of something, deputies instructed him to step behind the garbage dumpster to relive himself. Afterward, they located a black makeup bag containing two dozen crack rocks lodged inside several discarded tires behind the dumpster.
The couple was placed under arrest and transported to the Independence Township substation for interviews, where both Canter and Dennis admitted to a history of cocaine and heroin use.
‘It was some good, proactive police work,? said Gardner.
Canter told detectives he hadn’t used any drugs in several hours, and ‘might go into withdrawals.?
Dennis told police she and Canter borrowed $400 to purchase crack in Detroit, and also admitted that she buys the drug for $10 per rock, then cuts each into two or three pieces, which she resells for $10.
The man and woman were both on probation for previous possession charges.
An employee at the Sunoco station gave the police a report stating the couple comes in once or twice a week to buy butane lighters, two roses in glass tubes’which they used to make a crack pipe’and various candy.
Both were charged with possession with intent to deliver narcotics and held in Oakland County Jail on $25,000 bond.