Drug Bust Made on I-85 Near Hamilton Mill Road

A man stopped for a defective brake light is now facing charges of possession of a Schedule I controlled substance.

On Dec. 2, an officer with the Gwinnett County Police Department Highway Interdiction Team (H.I.T.) conducted a traffic stop on Interstate 85 just north of Hamilton Mill Road.

According to a GCPD press release, the officer stopped a white Isuzu pick-up truck after observing the vehicle traveling northbound on I-85 with a defective brake light.

During the course of the investigation, the officer developed probable cause to search the vehicle with the use of a narcotics K-9 unit. The officer subsequently discovered approximately 1,000 pipes commonly used to smoke marijuana packaged in containers in the bed of the truck.

The officer also found approximately 60 small packages marked “Witch Doctor,” “Comfortably Numb” and “Return of the Red Eye.” The substance inside the packages was determined to be similar to K-2 (synthetic cannabis), a Schedule I substance in Georgia. The officer confiscated the suspected narcotics and released the driver of the vehicle, 57-year-old Randall J. Decarlo of Lilburn, with a warning for the equipment violation.

On Feb. 4, a GBI analysis of the confiscated material indicated the presence of JWH-018, the main Schedule I ingredient for K-2. As a result of the analysis, the officer obtained warrants against Decarlo for possession of a Schedule I controlled substance.

Decarlo was taken into custody at his residence and is being held in the Gwinnett County Detention Center without bond.