2 Charged for 9 Pounds of Weed in a Vehicle

Patrick Petillo

Twenty-three-year-old Patrick Petillo and twenty-eight-year-old Ronald Michael were jointly charged with one count of drug trafficking when they appeared in court today. Police report that on Saturday, July twenty-second, they made a bust of almost nine pounds of weed inside a vehicle that belong to Petillo, but was being driven at the time by Michael. Two cops were on mobile patrol when they received information of a vehicle transporting drugs on the north side of Belize City. The cops went to the area and saw the vehicle matching the description, but the driver sped off.  A chase ensued and the vehicle was intercepted on Central American Boulevard. Police searched the vehicle and found a backpack behind the driver’s seat which contained four parcels of weed.

Ronald Michael

A further search of the SUV led to the discovery of more marijuana inside the left and right guard wheels. Although Petillo pleaded guilty to the charge of drug trafficking, Michael didn’t escape the charge. The prosecutor in the case didn’t withdraw the charge because the cops believed that Michael knew that there were drugs inside the vehicle he was driving. Michael was charged and granted bail of five thousand dollars plus one surety of the same amount. He is scheduled to re-appear in court for trial in September. Petillo, a first time drug trafficking offender, was slapped with a mandatory fine of ten thousand dollars. He was ordered to pay two thousand dollars by Friday and the balance by December 2017. If he defaults on payment, he will be sent to prison for three years.