A routine traffic stop has landed a 22-year-old Clinton man back behind bars, still facing an assortment of drug charges he never answered in court.
Carl Cyheim Hargrove, of 509 W. Elizabeth St., was taken into custody Sunday at 1:09 a.m. after Clinton police, stopping him on Southwest Boulevard, discovered he had outstanding warrants against him for failing to appear in court.
Those outstanding arrest warrants were for two felony counts each of possession with intent to manufacture, sell and deliver a Schedule II controlled substance and sell a Schedule II controlled substance and three counts of felony deliver a Schedule II controlled substance.
According to Clinton Assistant Police Chief Adrian Mathews, the controlled substance was more than likely cocaine and the warrants were initally leveled by a Clinton police officer back in 2022, ironically on the same day and month.
When officers stopped Hargrove Sunday, a computer search showed he had order for arrest warrants issued because of his failure to appear on those charges.
The issue, like so many, Mathews said, stems from suspects arrested, and then released from jail under bonds, who don’t show up for their court dates as mandated. Bench warrants are then issued, but it is often hard to locate the suspects.
And that, Mathews said, is when routine traffic stops can, and often do, make a difference.
“We see it all the time,” Mathews stressed. “Our officers will pull someone over for something like a license plate or speeding violation, and when they run their information through the computer, it turns out they have outstanding warrants against them.”
It is, Mathews acknowledged, how most outstanding warrants end up being served.
“I consider that an excellent stop,” the assistant police chief noted about the early Sunday morning incident. “Anytime we can find someone who didn’t come back for their court date, it’s a good thing.”
Those bonded out but never showing up for court, Mathews said, only serve to slow the court system down more, leaving charges lingering and the system clogged with suspects whose cases don’t get resolved.
Hargrove was taken to the Sampson Detention Center Sunday morning around 2:30 a.m., book and placed under an additional $20,000, making his total bond now $40,000.