Westchester PD Nabs Virginia Fugitive In Eastchester, Gun Recovered

EASTCHESTER, NY — A traffic stop by Westchester County police led to the arrest of a fugitive from Virginia.

The man wanted on a federal narcotics trafficking charge was arrested and a loaded handgun was seized, following a traffic stop by a patrol officer in Eastchester.

Shortly after 10 a.m. on Monday, the officer saw a 2023 Hyundai Sonata with heavily tinted windows traveling on the eastbound Cross County Parkway. A license plate check revealed that the vehicle’s North Carolina registration was expired.

The officer followed the Hyundai onto New Rochelle Road and made a traffic stop as the driver entered a gas station. A check of his ID revealed the warrant lodged by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in the U.S. District Court for Eastern Virginia.

The warrant charges the 34-year-old man with conspiracy to manufacture and distribute
methamphetamine and fentanyl, according to police.

After the driver was placed in custody, a search of the vehicle turned up a loaded .38-caliber revolver and a small amount of heroin, as well as, $12,034 in cash in the center console, according to police. Once the handgun was found, the passengers in the car, two women from Rhode Island, were also taken into custody.

The three were each charged with felony second degree criminal possession of a weapon and felony third degree criminal possession of a weapon. The second charge was lodged because all three have prior criminal convictions that bar them from possessing a firearm, according to police.

The driver was also charged with misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance.

"Another job well done by our vigilant Patrol officers," Westchester County police said in a statement released on social media. "And, as is usually the case when felony charges are involved, our detectives in the General Investigations Unit got involved and helped sort the whole thing out."