Driving too Slow Results in Weapons/Drug Bust Wednesday

 

An Anchorage man was charged with weapons and drug crimes after a traffic stop for driving too slow on Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard on Wednesday, APD reported Friday morning.

According to APD, an Impaired Driving Enforcement Unit spotted an Acura sedan swerving and driving between 5 and 10 miles per hour in the 45 mph zone of the roadway and so conducted a stop.

The driver, later identified as 44-year-old Roger D. Moncion-Lantigua, complied and pulled to the side of the road and the officer made contact.

That officer, after approaching the vehicle, observed a box of ammo in the back seat of the Acura and so asked Moncion-Lantigua if there were any weapons in the vehicle to which Moncion-Lantigua replied in the negative. Meanwhile, a backup vehicle arrived at the location.


Moncion-Lantigua was taken into custody and placed in the back of the patrol vehicle as, with permission, the officers conducted a search of the suspect vehicle. During the search, a loaded handgun was found under the front passenger seat.

Suspecting drug use, the officer asked if Moncion-Lantigua would participate in  Standardized Field Sobriety Testing, to which Moncion-Lantigua agreed to. Moncion-Lantigua was taken from the back seat of the patrol vehicle and testing was done. After testing, it was decided to arrest Moncion-Lantigua for Operation Under the Influence of Drugs.

Before placing Moncion-Lantigua back into the patrol vehicle, the officer did a check of the back seat and found a plastic bag of cocaine stuffed between the dividing wall between the back and front seat. According to the report, the officer had just prior to the arrest had come on shift and had thoroughly searched the back seat of the vehicle as is routine practice and Moncion-Lantigua was the first arrestee to be placed in the patrol vehicle.

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Moncion-Lantigua was taken to the Anchorage jail and a warrant was requested and issued for a blood draw.

The suspect was charged with “Misconduct Involving a Weapon I, Misconduct Involving a Weapon IV, Operating under the Influence, and Misconduct Involving a Controlled Substance III,” according to APD.