PLYMOUTH, Ind. (WOWO): A routine traffic stop Monday landed a <st1:city w_st=”on”>Plymouth woman in jail after Indiana State Police discovered meth in her coffee. 

Shortly before 11:00 a.m., a trooper stopped a white 2002 Pontiac Bonneville on US 30 near Tulip Rd. in Plymouth for a traffic infraction. After speaking with the driver, the officer purportedly recognized the female, 51-year-old Teresa Tapia of Plymouth, from past drug related incidents she had been involved in. 

Within minutes of the stop the trooper was assisted by a Plymouth Police Department K9 Officer and his dog, which walked around the vehicle and received an indication from the canine that drugs may be present in the car. 

The trooper approached the car and was talking with the passenger when he heard the officer ask Tapia to exit the vehicle. The officer told Tapia to leave her coffee cup in the car and exit, but she refused and attempted to swallow something from the cup. 

The trooper assisted Weir removing Tapia from the driver’s seat. A struggle ensued between Tapia and the officer’s as she resisted and continued to clutch the coffee cup and attempt to drink the contents. Tapia was had cuffed after the altercation. 

The officers then discovered a coffee filter inside the coffee cup Tapia was holding and recognized this practice through his police training as a common occurrence with meth users. The coffee filters are used to filter the meth as it is being produced. The individuals then take the used filter that contains the meth remnants and put it inside a drink in order to ingest the residual meth that was left in the filter during production. 

A subsequent field test of the coffee filter and other items in Tapia’s car returned back positive results for methamphetamine. 

Tapia was arrested for possession of methamphetamine and resisting arrest. She is currently being held in the Marshall County Jail on bond.