Stop For Bad Tags Leads To Meth Arrest: Police

PETALUMA, CA — A man was arrested with over 90 grams of methamphetamine when a Petaluma police officer noticed his car had a false registration tab, a police lieutenant said.

It happened late Wednesday at 11:59 p.m. in the 5000 block of Montero Way, Lt. Matthew Parnow said. As the patrol officer did further research, he determined the license plate was not assigned to that specific vehicle so he conducted a traffic stop.

The driver was identified as Todd Shipley, 60, of Sebastopol.

Because the registration expired in 2013, the officer had the car towed, Parnow said.

Officers conducted an inventory search of Shipley’s car and found multiple individual packages of methamphetamine under the driver's seat, Parnow said.

In a search of Shipley’s person, officers found more small packages of meth that appeared to be prepared for sale, the lieutenant said.

It is alleged officers found 90.8 grams as a result of both searches.

"Additionally, Shipley had drug paraphernalia, misappropriated debit cards and California identification cards," Parnow said.

Shipley was arrested and booked into Sonoma County jail on suspicion of multiple violations, including possession of a controlled substance (methamphetamine) for sale, possession of drug paraphernalia and misappropriation of property.