Gift-wrapped pot leads to Calif. man's Neb. arrest

[October 15, 2010]  LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) -- The Nebraska State Patrol says 15 1/2 pounds of pot was found gift-wrapped following a traffic stop on Interstate 80 in Lincoln.

A patrol news release said a trooper pulled over an eastbound car for speeding near the Lincoln Airport exit on Wednesday afternoon. A patrol dog taken to the scene alerted officers to drugs in the rear of the car.

The patrol said troopers then found the marijuana and a half pound of hashish. The drugs had been secreted in two gift-wrapped boxes.

Troopers arrested the driver, 52-year-old Edwin Yearout, of Sacramento, Calif.

A Lancaster County jailer says Yearout remained in custody Wednesday. Case records don't yet list the name of Yearout's attorney.

[Associated Press]

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