Cory Fields, 24, of Akron (left) and Joseph D. Neff, 32, of Beach City (right) are facing charges after being spotted leaving a Midvale residence where drug trafficking was believed to have been occurring.

Midvale, Ohio - Two men are facing charges following a traffic stop in Midvale Saturday evening. 

Just before 10 p.m. on October 20, a Tuscarawas County Sheriff’s deputy initiated a traffic stop on a gray Chevrolet Impala seen leaving a West State Street residence where drug trafficking was believed to be occurring.

According to the call report, the department was in the process of obtaining a search warrant for the residence when the deputy spotting the vehicle leaving. After observing the vehicle cross the center line on state Route 250 Westbound at the Midvale on-ramp, the officer initiated a traffic stop. 

The three occupants, two males and one female, were removed separately from the vehicle and patted down for weapons. K-9 Bruno conducted a fresh air sniff of the exterior of the vehicle and alerted to the driver and passenger door seams and trunk. 

During a search of the vehicle, suspected cocaine was located. The male passenger, 32-year-old Joseph D. Neff of Beach City, was arrested on an outstanding warrant out of New Philadelphia Municipal Court. 

The other two individuals in the vehicle, driver Cory Fields and a female passenger, were detained for questioning. During the interviews, the female surrendered a large quantity of suspected methamphetamine that she had hidden on her person. A loaded firearm was found located in a hidden compartment in the vehicle, which was systemically inventoried before being towed to the sheriff’s office impound lot. 

Fields was charged with drug possession, having weapons while under disability, and violating the terms of his parole, according to Detective Lt. Jeff Moore. A report will also be sent to the Tuscarawas County Prosecutor’s Office to review for additional charges. 

Fields was released in February from the Trumbull County Correctional Institute where he was serving a six-year term for aggravated robbery.  

Moore says none of the three individuals were residents of the home that they were seen leaving. He says he was not present when officers executed the search warrant but he knows that nothing else was found inside the residence. He says that several other individuals were inside the residence but were not detained.

STACEY CARMANY, TUSCO TV