Police Dog Locates Concealed Drugs In Auto

At about 3:20 pm April 24, police stopped motorist Richard Serricchia, 39, of New Haven for not having a front marker plate on the compact sedan that he was driving on South Main Street, near its northern intersection with Peck’s Lane.

Following an investigation, police lodged six motor vehicle charges against Serricchia.

Police said that during their investigation, Tina Geracci, 38, of Newington, who was a passenger in the auto, told police that there was a pipe used for smoking crack cocaine within the auto.

Police then summoned their German shepherd to the scene to conduct a search of the vehicle. The dog began its police service last week.

The dog located a crack cocaine pipe under a passenger floor mat, found some concealed marijuana inside a seatbelt housing, and also found some heroin inside a jacket pocket within the car’s trunk, police said.

Additional searching turned up some drug paraphernalia and more heroin, police said.

Police then arrested Geracci on charges of possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of narcotics, possession of less than four ounces of marijuana, and possession of a controlled substance.

Police held Geracci on $10,000 bail for arraignment in Danbury Superior Court on April 25.

Police arrested Serricchia on charges of driving without a license, driving without automotive insurance, driving an unregistered vehicle, theft of a marker plate, misuse of a marker plate, and failure to display a marker plate.

Police released Serricchia on $250 bail for a May 12 court appearance.