*** MEDIA ADVISORY*** October 9, 2009 DRUG RUNNER CONVICTED OF TWO FELONY COUNTS Media Contact:  Curtis T. Hill, Jr. - 296-1888 On October 1, 2009, Dante Reed, age 31, of Nappanee, was convicted of Possession of Marijuana in excess of 30 grams and Maintaining a Common Nuisance, both Class D Felonies.   The jury heard evidence presented by Deputy Prosecuting Attorneys Graham Polando and Aimee Herring that on February 20, 2009, an officer from the Elkhart Police Department stopped a Dodge Magnum for a traffic stop.  When the officer learned that the driver, Dante Reed, had a suspended license and was unable to locate the car’s registered owner, he impounded the car.  An inventory search prior to that impoundment yielded 840 grams of Marijuana.  Later, the driver’s passenger produced several “ecstasy” pills from her person.Mr. Reed, who was represented by counsel, absconded from the courthouse before the trial actually began.During the trial, Mr. Reed’s passenger testified that when the Elkhart Police officer stopped the car, Mr. Reed became frantic, saying, “I’ve got a bunch of weed . . . whose should I say it is?”  Further testimony by the passenger revealed that Mr. Reed also threw her the bag of ecstasy pills and told her to conceal them in her vagina, which she did.The large amount of marijuana, twenty-eight (28) times the amount necessary to convict Mr. Reed of felony possession, was largely in “brick” form, which indicated to the officer that Mr. Reed was functioning as a “runner,” transporting the marijuana for packaging before sale on the streets of Elkhart.After learning that Mr. Reed had left the courthouse, Judge Charles Wicks issued a warrant for his arrest, which remains active.  Upon sentencing, Mr. Reed, who had been previously convicted of robbery, faces a maximum of six (6) years in prison.                                                   *  *  *