Cops: Employee facing felony after selling pot from back of Middletown restaurant

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MIDDLETOWN >> A 22-year-old man who police say sold less than $10 worth of marijuana to an individual from the back alley of the Main Street restaurant where he washes dishes was arrested on a felony drug charge earlier this week.

On Monday at 10:30 p.m., police witnessed a man sitting in a Volvo parked in front of the 400 block of Main Street talking on a cellphone then pull around into the back of a restaurant where Nathaniel Haynes Jr. of Prospect Street allegedly stepped outside, made an exchange with the driver then re-entered the business.

Once the driver was pulled over, officers say they smelled marijuana in the individual’s car, and although he denied having any, police spotted a small plastic bag in the door handle with .8 grams of pot inside. When questioned, the driver reportedly said, “Oh, that. That was there since before I went to work. I forgot about that.”

A canine search of the suspect’s vehicle turned up a black iPhone box with a vaporizer pen and a metal marijuana grinder and empty plastic baggies, both containing marijuana residue, the report indicates. The man then allegedly said he had just purchased a gram from a person at work for $9 whom he knew only as “Nate.”

The driver, who police did not name in the report, was issued an infraction for possession of less than half-an-ounce of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Officers entered the restaurant, located Haynes in the kitchen area and searched him, allegedly turning up $51 in cash and a small glass jar with .9 grams of marijuana inside. The report adds that another employee handed police Haynes’ cell phone, which they confiscated.

Haynes was charged with felony illegal sale of a controlled substance and possession of less than half-an-ounce of marijuana. He was originally held on a $50,000 bond but that was reduced during his arraignment on Tuesday to a promise to appear in court on Sept. 2.