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Tampa Traffic Stop Yields Father-Son Cocaine Arrests

Photos from the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office

James Smith II, left, and his son James Smith III are both being held at the Orient Road Jail.

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TBO.com

Published: July 29, 2008

TAMPA - Early this morning, police pulled over a 2006 Honda Ridgeline pickup at Waters and Armenia avenues because, they say, it had a broken left brake light.

When the driver consented to a search, police found a baggie of cocaine that was purchased by a father for his son, police say.

According to an arrest affidavit, an officer stopped the pickup about 1:20 a.m. for a broken left brake light. The officer approached the vehicle and noticed that the front seat passenger, 43-year-old James Smith II, had a pocketknife under his left thigh.

Police asked the driver and the two passengers – Smith and his son, James Smith III, 19 – to step out of the vehicle, at which point the driver gave permission for officers to search the car, the report states.

Police say they found two crack pipes and a baggie of cocaine in a pouch behind the driver's seat. The younger Smith had been sitting in the back seat, and both he and the driver said Smith's father had purchased the cocaine just moments before.

Officers say they searched the men and found another pipe in the son's left shoe.

According to the affidavit, the younger Smith said his father bought the cocaine for them to share.

Father and son both were charged with possession of cocaine, a felony, and possession of paraphernalia, a misdemeanor. They were being held at Orient Road Jail, and bail for each was set at $2,500.

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