Pahrump traffic stop leads to arrest of local man

A simple traffic stop led to the discovery of a substantial amount of drugs.

The incident occurred just before midnight on Monday, Sept. 6, when Nye County Sheriff’s Office Investigator Eric Anderson initiated the stop after the driver of a pickup truck failed to come to a complete stop at the intersection of Linda Street and Wilson Road, according to an arrest report.

“In the area of Linda Street and Highway 372, I conducted a traffic stop on the truck, where I made contact with the driver, whom I recognized from previous narcotics investigations as Robert Thorniley,” Anderson’s report stated.

“I asked Robert to step out of the truck, and Robert complied with my request. As Robert was walking back to the front of my vehicle, he produced a set of brass knuckles and tossed them into the bed of his truck.”

The discovery

Once Thorniley was detained, Anderson asked whether there was anything else in the truck.

“He advised there were a couple of “rigs” and a black pouch containing what he thought to be Xanax,” Anderson noted.

“Through my training and experience, I recognized the term “rigs” to be hypodermic devices containing narcotics. Robert confirmed the devices contained methamphetamine. Each of the hypodermic devices contained between 45 and 50 units of liquid methamphetamine.”

The report went on to state that while searching the vehicle, Anderson located at least three hypodermic devices containing a clear liquid in a console under the radio.

“In the back of the floorboard of the truck, I also located a small black pouch containing numerous blue and peach-colored pills,”

Anderson’s report noted. “From previous narcotics investigations, I recognized the blue-colored pills to be Alprazolam.”

“Robert was transported to the Nye County Detention Center,” according to information in the arrest report.

While at the sheriff’s office, Anderson was able to presumptively identify the pills to be two-milligram Alprazolams along with 0.5 milligram Alprazolams, according to the report.

“I counted each of the different milligrams and there were 20 of the Alprazolam two-milligram and 15 of the Alprazolam 0.5 milligram,” according to Anderson’s report. “Alprazolam is a prescription-only medication and a schedule IV narcotic.”

Thorniley was arrested on suspicion of three counts of possession of a controlled substance and one count of possession of a dangerous weapon.

Bail was set at $20,000.

Contact reporter Selwyn Harris at sharris@pvtimes.com. On Twitter: @pvtimes