Cody man re-arrested after being caught with marijuana again

Released from jail after posting $11,000

Posted 5/18/21

Days after appearing in court on allegations that he possessed marijuana wax with intent to deliver it, a 19-year-old Cody man was again caught with the substance.

Joseph “Alex” …

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Cody man re-arrested after being caught with marijuana again

Released from jail after posting $11,000

Posted

Days after appearing in court on allegations that he possessed marijuana wax with intent to deliver it, a 19-year-old Cody man was again caught with the substance.

Joseph “Alex” Wooden was arrested by Cody police following a Thursday afternoon traffic stop. Police say they found several containers of THC wax, a few pills of Adderall and pipes in Wooden’s vehicle.

The arrest came two days after Wooden was arraigned on allegations that he possessed drugs, a stolen pistol and alcohol in April. Wooden contended in court that the drugs he was caught with on Thursday were items left over from his April arrest and that he had been in the process of cleaning out his car.

However, Circuit Court Judge Bruce Waters saw things differently. 

“It’s clear that you’re not getting the seriousness of these charges, and you’re not taking them seriously, and you don’t give a rip one way or another,” the judge told Wooden at a Friday hearing.

Between the allegations from April and from Thursday, Waters ordered that Wooden be held in jail until coming up with $11,000 in cash as bail.

Wooden, who said he couldn’t afford even $1,000, asked to be released on his own recognizance, as he had been earlier in the week; Wooden noted that he wouldn’t be able to make money to pay off bills or court penalties while in jail.

“This isn’t about money,” Waters responded. “This is about you complying with the law.”

The judge noted the bond could be modified later, “but at this point, I’m not sure that’s going to happen.”

The discussion wound up being academic, as an individual posted the $11,000 on Wooden’s behalf hours after the hearing and he was released again.

Wooden was initially pulled over for speeding on April 16, just outside of Powell on U.S. Highway 14-A. However, Wyoming Highway Patrol Trooper Danny Hite wound up finding 22 individually packaged containers of suspected marijuana wax, individually packaged marijuana in plant form and a digital scale. That led to a felony charge of possession with intent to deliver. Wooden also had a stolen pistol in the SUV, which led to a misdemeanor theft charge, and alcohol, which led to a misdemeanor count of underage possession. One of the juvenile passengers in the vehicle told the trooper that Wooden had been on his way to Cody to sell drugs, and two other juveniles said they knew Wooden sold marijuana wax.

Because the investigation took some time to develop, Wooden didn’t make his first court appearance on the allegations until May 11; he was released on a signature bond pending further proceedings.

However, Wooden was arrested in Cody on Thursday. Around 5 p.m., Cody Police Officer Blake Stinson saw Wooden driving east on Rumsey Avenue and began following him. Wooden then “quickly swerved to the shoulder and parked,” partially blocking the entrance to a nearby medical clinic.

With Wooden failing to signal for 100 feet before his turn and parking illegally, Stinson performed a traffic stop. He “immediately smelled the strong odor of burnt marijuana.”

The officer eventually detained Wooden — prompting the suspect to begin “yelling and swearing,” charging documents say — and handcuffed him. Stinson found a wooden pipe that smelled like burnt marijuana in Wooden’s front pocket, while finding containers of marijuana wax, four pills of Adderall — apparently prescribed to a family member — and a butane torch in his vehicle. Wooden’s urine also tested positive for THC, charging documents say.

In statements to police and in court, Wooden said the drug use and the materials found in his vehicle all dated back to before his April 16 traffic stop near Powell. Wooden said he’d been in the process of cleaning out his car so he wouldn’t have any issues with law enforcement.

“I guess what happened was … not good,” Wooden said Friday, but he told the judge his car had smelled like marijuana for a long time.

“That odor just doesn’t go away,” Wooden said.

“And yet it smelled that way and you had all sorts of stuff on you,” Judge Waters responded, also noting that he’d specifically ordered Wooden to obey the law and stay away from controlled substances. “Yeah, this is a problem.”

Deputy Park County Saige Smith had asked the judge to revoke Wooden’s signature bond and instead require cash to be posted, noting the defendant had been in court just a couple days earlier.

“The fact that this comes soon after that is concerning to the state,” Smith said, citing a concern about community safety.

During Friday’s hearing — before the $11,000 was posted on his behalf — Wooden repeatedly asked for a lower bond so he could get out of jail and work.

“I was going over to play f—ng Mortal Kombat at my friend’s house,” he said, “and I didn’t even know you had to turn a blinker on 100 meters before you pulled over.”

“Well, you learn something new every day,” Waters offered, saying he wasn’t going to argue about the bond.

Wooden at one point indicated he wanted to plead guilty to the two misdemeanor drug charges from Thursday, “because they were in my possession,” but ultimately decided to plead not guilty so he could speak to a lawyer. A trial was tentatively set for July 29. Meanwhile, a preliminary hearing on the earlier, felony case is tentatively set for Wednesday.

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