A California man was being held in jail in Pope County awaiting arraignment next month on drug charges after state police found him carrying nearly 900 pounds of marijuana.
Mario Soto, 33, of Rialto, Calif., is scheduled to appear before a judge March 14 in Pope County Circuit Court. He was being held Tuesday on charges of trafficking in a controlled substance and simultaneous possession of drugs and a firearm, both felonies, according to the prosecutor's office in Pope County.
Formal charges were not filed on Tuesday. Pope County District Judge Donald Bourne set bail at $100,000 during a hearing Monday.
Soto was arrested about 10:20 a.m. Friday when an Arkansas State Police trooper pulled over the pickup he was driving east on Interstate 40 near London, a state police news release said.
He was stopped for following too closely and driving off the highway onto the shoulder, the release said.
Soto consented to a search of his pickup and the trailer it was pulling, according to the release. Troopers found 893 pounds of marijuana.
State Desk on 02/03/2016