Exeter Man Arrested for Possession of Crack Cocaine

Roderic Point, 47, of 531 South County Trail, Apt. #6, Exeter, was arrested about 10:20 a.m. Sunday on a felony charge of possession of crack cocaine, and a misdemeanor charge of driving in possession of a controlled substance.

According to police, an officer spotted Point's van on Boston Neck Road, and knew Point had just been released from prison on a charge of delivery of crack cocaine. The officer followed Point and saw him turn into a market on Boston Neck Road without using his turn signal.

The officer kept driving, but did a U-turn and followed Point's van a short distance before making a traffic stop. The officer said Point drove from the parking lot of Roch's, into the Rite Aid parking lot, before finally stopping by the north side of the Rite Aid lot.

Police said Point was nervous and tried to conceal something in his pocket. The officer also noted that there was a glass pipe visible on the backseat floor of his car.

Point was placed under arrest and searched. Police said a search of Point's coat revealed a large yellowish and white rock wrapped inside a blue piece of paper that tested positive for cocaine.

The department's K-9 unit, Roki, was brought to the van to search it. Roki indicated that there was cocaine on the glass pipe on the backseat of the floor, and also on a cup holder. Police searched the cup holder and found a hidden compartment that had two used glass pipes, one new glass pipe, and several pairs of women's thong underwear.

Point was transported to the ACI at 1:20 p.m. He was arraigned at 3 p.m. Sunday and given $50,000 surety bail, but could not post it and was held overnight.

He appeared the next day in Fourth Division District Court. He did not enter a plea, which is customary in felonies still at the district court level.

Bail was reduced from $50,000 to $5,000 surety bail. Court records did not indicate whether he had posted it or not. A felony screening date is scheduled for Jan. 18.

According to the Rhode Island Judiciary's Adult Criminal Information Database, Point pleaded no contest to a South Kingstown police charge of distributing cocaine on August 2009 and was ordered to serve a year at the ACI. He is also currently on probation until August 2016.

The information for this article was compiled from Narragansett police reports, which are available for review by any member of the public at their . Additional information was compiled from Fourth Division District Court and Washington County Superior Court.