GREENFIELD — A traffic stop in McCordsville landed an Indianapolis teen in jail on drug-dealing charges after officers said she was carrying an array of drugs along with dozens of plastic baggies used to package narcotics, according to court documents.
Elizabeth Bishop, 18, 4762 Vernon Ave., Indianapolis, was recently stopped along West Broadway Street in McCordsville for failing to use a turn signal when changing lanes, court documents state.
Officers said they smelled marijuana coming from Bishop’s car during the traffic stop. They searched the teen and her vehicle and found drugs and various paraphernalia in the car and in the girl’s pockets, court documents state.
Bishop now faces 10 counts, including felony drug-dealing charges, records show. She appeared in Hancock County Superior Court 1 Monday and pleaded not guilty to the charges she faces. She was being held in the Hancock County Jail on a $7,000 cash bond at press time.
McCordsville Police Department officers stopped Bishop’s car in the 6200 block of West Broadway Street on Friday night. While speaking with the teen, officers said they smelled burned marijuana coming from inside her car, court documents state.
Police found drugs along with various paraphernalia, some of which officers said is commonly used by drug dealers, according to court documents.
Small bags containing heroin, methamphetamine and pills that were later identified as Amphetamine — a stimulant registered as a schedule 2 controlled substance — were confiscated from Bishop, along with the remains of two marijuana cigarettes found inside the center console of the car, court documents state.
In one of the teen’s pockets, officers found 35 small, clear plastic baggies, and each had a green dollar sign printed on it, according to court documents. Baggies marked like that are used when packaging and selling drugs, police said.
In the teen’s car, police found a marijuana grinder and a digital scale, similar to one police said a dealer would use to weigh illegal substances before sale, court documents state.
Bishop was arrested and booked into the Hancock County Jail just after midnight Saturday. Monday, prosecutors filed criminal charges against the teen and she made her first court appearance.
Records show Bishop faces: two Level 5 felony counts of dealing a narcotic drug; two Level 6 felony counts of possession of a narcotic drug; one Level 6 felony count of dealing a schedule 2 controlled substance; one Level 6 felony count of maintaining a common nuisance; one Class A misdemeanor of possession of a controlled substance; one Class A misdemeanor of possession of marijuana; and one Class C misdemeanor of possession of paraphernalia.
Bishop also faces a Class C traffic infraction of failure to signal for a lane change, records show.
The Level 5 and Level 6 felony counts Bishop faces each carry maximum penalties of six years and 2.5 years in prison, respectively. The Class A misdemeanors she faces each carry a maximum penalty of one year in jail, while the Class C misdemeanor carries a maximum penalty of 60 days in jail. The Class C infraction carries a fine up to a $500.