A AK-style firearm, drugs and a notebook with names and figures were among the items Rockmart Police found during a traffic stop earlier this month, according to reports.
Just before 2 a.m. on Tuesday, February 6, Rockmart Police spotted a 2008 Toyota Camry with a test drive tag going south on North Piedmont Avenue and watched as it crossed over the center lines, along with a busted tail light, and pulled the car over at Handy Andy.
Inside the vehicle, police found Kara Ashley Klemke, 37, and Richard Clayton Wallace, 33, both of local addresses, and found that neither suspect had a license on them while behind the wheel.
Wallace told officers his license was expired and he last had it when he went to prison, while Klemke was able to provide her driver’s license number to officers during the stop. Police found that Wallace had a warrant for his arrest and his license was expired since 2014 once he was out of the car, and taken into custody for driving without a license. He complained his bond would be revoked if he went to jail on the charge, but told police he had nothing on his person.
Neither could explain who owned the car and claimed they knew nothing of what might be inside, and that it was on loan from a friend. By this point, the officer was willing to just cite Wallace and let him go, but that was prior to when K-9 Gena showed up to give the car a sniff.
Police searched Klemke and Wallace and didn’t immediately find anything, but the K-9 officer sniffing around the car turned up a lot more than the claimed “nothing” Wallace said was in the car.
The further search after Gena’s sniff turned up a bag of marijuana, two pills of oxycodone, a glass pipe, a green notebook with entries believed to pertain to drug deals and money owed, a loaded MDL PAP M92PV AK Pistol under the driver’s seat and an additional magazine.
Klemke was searched again and she revealed she had a bag of meth hidden in her bra.
Police also confiscated their phones for evidence. The car was impounded until the actual registered owner with insurance could present paperwork for who owned it.
Klemke remained in custody after a $29,000 bond was set for her felony and misdemeanor charges. She was booked on Feb. 6 for felonies for possession of methamphetamine, possession with intent, possession of tools for commission of a crime, possession of firearm or knife during commission of or attempt to commit certain felonies, and a misdemeanor possession and use of drug-related objects charge.
Bond was denied for Wallace, who remains in jail on felony charges of possession of firearm or knife during commission of or attempt to commit certain felonies, possession of firearm by convicted felon or first offender, possession of a Schedule II controlled substance, and misdemeanor charges of operating motor vehicle without registration or valid license plate, failure to maintain lane, tag lights required, a seatbelt violation, driving without a valid license, and possession and use of drug-related objects.
