Man tells police he was holding onto heroin, crack, firearm for his cousin

Myrtle Beach police seized 11 grams of narcotics and a loaded handgun from a man in a vehicle that officers say caught their attention when it passed them “emanating an odor of marijuana.” But the man told police most of the drugs and the gun belonged to someone else.

Officers followed the black Chrysler 200 and stopped the car at the corner of Futrell Drive and Spivey Avenue shortly before 7 p.m. Sunday.

Twenty-nine-year-old William Joshua Vaught of Myrtle Beach was behind the wheel and Officer S. Donovan reported Vaught “began to sweat, shake and had difficulty focusing” after Donovan told him they had stopped Vaught because his car smelled like marijuana.

Vaught “was clutching a dollar bill and Donovan asked if there was anything in it he needed to be concerned about,” according to an incident report.

Police say Vaught said “yes,” and handed Donovan the bill, which contained marijuana residue, according to the report.

Officers seized a loaded Smith and Wesson 38 special revolver from a holster in Vaught’s waistband and Vaught told police more drugs were in a Newport box in his pocket, according to the report.

Inside the cigarette box, police say they found three individually packaged off-white-in-color rocks, which field tested positive for cocaine and weighed 3.2 grams. Also in the box were 24 wax slips containing a tan colored powder that field tested positive for heroin and weighed about 4.7 grams, according to the report.

Police say 21 of the slips were red and white, depicting a samurai and marked with the words “Crazy Samurai.” The other three were green and red depicting a dragon, according to the report.

Police seized from the vehicle two marijuana grinders, a counterfeit $50 bill, two digital scales, a partially burnt marijuana cigarette and a bag of marijuana, weighing 3.1 grams, according to the report.

At the jail, Vaught told officers the marijuana was his, but he was holding onto the other drugs and the gun for his cousin, whom he declined to name, according to the report.

Vaught was charged with simple possession of marijuana. Warrant requests were also submitted to the Myrtle Beach Clerk of Court for additional charges of possession with intent to distribute crack and heroin and the unlawful carrying of a firearm.

This story was originally published September 26, 2016 at 5:09 PM with the headline "Man tells police he was holding onto heroin, crack, firearm for his cousin."