Traffic stop

Yields 300 Pounds Of Marijuana

LLa Porte County Police have made another major bust of a possible drug mule on the Indiana Toll Road during what’s been an ongoing crackdown. Close to 300 pounds of marijuana were recovered Monday, May 15, from a vehicle during a traffic stop near Rolling Prairie, police said.

The driver, Luis Dorantes Perez, 38, was arrested for level 5 felony dealing in marijuana.

About 10 a.m., police said an officer monitoring traffic stopped the eastbound vehicle for speeding and erratic driving.

The officer became suspicious when he spotted a blanket covering what appeared to be several bulky items in the back end of the vehicle and detected a strong odor of what he suspected to be marijuana.

Police said more than 50 plastic packages of partially vacuum sealed marijuana weighing five pounds apiece were discovered underneath the blanket.

So were over a dozen one pound packages of marijuana.

A bottle of fabric softener believed to have been used to try and disguise the smell of the marijuana also turned up during the vehicle search, police said.

Perez told the officer the marijuana was “from his work” and he was transporting it from the state of Washington where he resides to New York.

Police said receipts on the suspect’s possession indicate he drove a rent a car through states like Montana, North Dakota, Wisconsin and Illinois before entering Indiana. Last month, La Porte County Police arrested three individuals from New York and Pennsylvania with more than two pounds of methamphetamine in their vehicle.

Police said they were on the Toll Road driving from Los Angeles to New York City when pulled over for speeding and tailgating.

La Porte County Police Capt. Derek Allen said there are no plans to stop a fruitful several year effort to catch drivers transporting large amounts of drugs.

Allen said the amount of marijuana seized weighed 294 pounds, exceeding any amount of the drug confiscated at one time by his department at least in recent memory.

“This is a large load,” he said. — STAN MADDUX

1870s Farmhouse Heavily Damaged By Fire

BY STAN MADDUX

Alate Monday morning fire heavily damaged a farmhouse built about a century and a half ago outside La Porte.

Carla Marhanka said she and her husband, Mitch, lived in the twostory home built around 1870 for more than 30 years.

Their two daughters were also raised at the residence.

Marhanka said nobody was home when the fire erupted.

“We were all at work,” she said.

Marhanka said she was in her third-grade classroom teaching at nearby Kingsbury Elementary School when notified about the blaze.

Flames were showing on both levels of the structure when firefighters were called to the home about 11 a.m. in the area of 400 South and 350 West.

Marhanka said learning about the fire then seeing it after rushing home gave her a sick feeling in her stomach.

“Nauseous,” she said.

Marhanka said she had a lot of old furniture inside the home and some of it belonged to her mother.

Most of all, she was grieving the possible loss of family pictures, including photos of her daughters when they were babies and during their weddings.

“That, to me, is the worst thing. Everything we’ve taken for the last 39 years is in there,” she said.

The Scipio Township Volunteer Fire Department was assisted by volunteer firefighters from Kingsbury, Noble Township and Westville in putting out the blaze.

Scipio Township Fire Chief Eric Fenstermaker said it’ll be up to the couple’s insurance company to decide whether the home is a total loss.

He didn’t reveal, specifically, what items inside the home were destroyed but said much of the contents will be salvageable.

Fenstermaker said the Indiana State Fire Marshal’s Office is assisting in the investigation to try and determine the cause of the fire.

Foul play is not suspected, he said.

Firefighters from Kingsbury, Noble Township and Westville assisted in putting out the flames.

Fenstermaker said there were no injuries.

Effort Resumes To Identity Body Of Old Jane Doe

Police have resumed efforts to identify the body of a woman that washed ashore more than 30 years ago in New Buffalo.

Michigan State Police and New Buffalo Police are asking for any assistance in identifying the woman believed to be 40-to-60 years of age.

Police said she was 5’5” and 175 lbs. with brown hair and brown eyes. She was believed to be wearing a wig or extensions pulled up from the scalp.

According to police, the body was recovered at the New Buffalo break wall April 8, 1988.

Police said her body was exhumed in 2021 to collect a DNA sample using newer methods and, during another examination of the corpse, the woman originally believed to be white was determined to be African-American. The initial autopsy revealed she had undergone a hysterectomy.

Police also said the woman was also believed to have been higher up in the social and financial ranks judging by her excellent dental work.

In particular, police said the porcelain bridge replacing a front tooth was considered experimental at the time and probably occurred within five years of her death.

Police said there was no shirt on the body when discovered but the woman did have on a front-clasped heavy-duty brassiere.

The lower extremities were covered by men’s size-38 denim blue jeans with a wide double-ring striped-cloth belt along with a pair of red, white and blue shorts and full-length pantyhose.

Ankle boots were on her feet, police said.

Anyone with any information about the woman should call the Michigan State Police Niles Post at 269-683-4411 or the New Buffalo Police Department at 269-469-1500. — STAN MADDUX