A routine traffic stop in Waco, Texas, led to a rather eventful night for the officers involved. The cops confiscated methamphetamine from underneath the driver's seat, as well as a loaded gun...from somewhere more intimate.
Gabriel Garcia, 30, was initially pulled over for a traffic violation on Monday night. But he wasn't able to drive off with just a ticket – because his crime went well beyond merely running a stop light.
During the stop, officers found 2.7 grams of methamphetamine under the driver's seat of the 1998 Toyota Land Rover. Garcia was then put under arrest on a charge of possession of methamphetamine in a drug-free zone. Police say the stop was within 1,000 feet of an elementary school.
An additional 29.5 grams of methamphetamine and a set of digital weighing scales were found in the purse of the female passenger, 31-year-old Ashley Cecilia Castaneda. She was arrested on the same charge as Garcia.
But while authorities were transporting Castaneda to the McLennan County Jail, she confessed a secret – she was carrying a loaded .22-caliber Smith and Wesson semiautomatic handgun inside her vagina.
The officers stopped the car and called for a female officer, who retrieved the gun. The weapon was fully loaded, including a round in the chamber, Waco police Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton, as cited by the Waco Tribune-Herald. Authorities did not say whether the safety mechanism was engaged.
The stunt led to Castaneda also being charged with unlawfully carrying a concealed weapon.
“It was a safety concern for the victim who had a loaded firearm inside her body,” Swanton said. “Depending on a number of factors, that gun could have gone off by body movements or compression of the trigger.”
Bonds for Castaneda and Garcia were set at $31,000 and $10,000, respectively.