Four Charged With Driving Through Town with 7-Foot Pot Plant in Back Seat

Four people are facing charges after they were pulled over in Menomonee Falls with a 7-foot-tall marijuana plant in the back of their vehicle.

Franchesca R. Flores, 20, of West Allis; Angelo Pomales, 27, of Milwaukee; Tito D. Pomales, 20, of Milwaukee; and Nathan M. Ridgeway, 26, of Milwaukee, were each charged Monday in Waukesha County Circuit Court with one count of possession of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana. If convicted, they each could collect six months in prison and $1,000 in fines.

According to the criminal complaint, at 1:27 a.m. Sept. 30, 2010 a Menomonee Falls police officer noticed a Cadillac Escalade doing 50 mph in a 30 mph zone near Appleton Avenue and Ridge Road. After pulling the vehicle over, he noticed a large marijuana plant pressed against the rear window of the vehicle.

Angelo Pomales, who was driving the vehicle, had slurred speech and appeared drunk, the complaint states, and when asked by the officer if it was a real marijuana plant in the back of the vehicle, Pomales said he didn’t know what he was talking about.

The officer ordered all of the occupants out the vehicle at which time he noticed a rolled up magazine cover, which had marijuana inside of it.

At the time of the incident, Angelo Pomales a blood alcohol level of 0.14.

The complaint states Flores told the officer she realized they left the plant in the vehicle before they went “cruising around town,” but didn’t think it was “a big deal” because all of the buds were off the plant.

She also told the officer she left the plant in the back of the vehicle because “it was pretty.”