Crime & Safety
Fairlawn Police Confiscate Marijuana from I-77 Motorist
The following arrest information was supplied by the Fairlawn Police Department. It does not indicate a conviction.
report that they confiscated more than three-quarters of a pound of marijuana early Saturday morning from a motorist traveling on I-77 near the Cleveland-Massillon Road exit.
A Fairlawn officer on patrol just after 3 a.m. saw a pickup truck cross lane lines twice.
The officer stopped the truck on the northbound exit ramp to Cleveland-Massillon Road and discovered the motorist, a 43-year-old Cleveland man, had a suspended driver’s license.
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The man, Steven I. Rickabaugh, also had two active warrants for his arrest from the Wayne County Sheriff’s Department and the Brecksville Police Department. He was arrested.
An officer doing an inventory of the truck before being towed said he smelled marijuana inside the vehicle. Police found an open Playmate cooler behind the driver’s seat with 33 small bags and containers of marijuana and three marijuana pipes inside.
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The combined total of the marijuana found was 370 grams, equivalent to 13 ounces.
Rickabaugh admitted to police the marijuana and pipes were his and were purchased in California, where he has a state-issued medical marijuana card.
He was charged with aggravated possession of drugs, a fifth-degree felony; trafficking in drugs, a fourth-degree felony; possession of drug paraphernalia, driving with a suspended license and lane straddling, all misdemeanors.
Rickabaugh was taken to the Fairlawn Police Department, then to the Summit County Jail in Akron.