Driver Pulled Over For Talking On Cell Phone Nabbed for Cannabis, Cash: Cops

EVERGREEN PARK, IL -- Evergreen Park police found a large quantity of pot and thousands of dollars in cash when they pulled over a South Holland man for talking on his cell phone while driving, prosecutors said. Printiss McMorris, 36, appeared before Cook County Judge Peter Felice on a felony charge of manufacturing/delivery of cannabis and possession of a controlled substance. Another driver who pulled up during the traffic stop and apparently connected to McMorris was issued two municipal citations.

According to the charges, officers spotted McMorris on July 24 in the 3300 block of West 87th Street in Evergreen Park, talking on his cell phone. After officers curbed McMorris, a white Dodge Charger driven by a woman, later identified as 29-year-old Marnetta Tellis, pulled in front of his vehicle. McMorris threw the backpack into the Charger. Both drivers were detained by police.

Evergreen Park police searched the backpack, uncovering 224.5 grams of marijuana and 17 grams of heroin, the prosecutor said. Officers also claim to have found a shoebox stuffed with $4,097 in McMorris’s vehicle.

Tellis allegedly told officers she did not know what was inside the backpack when McMorris tossed it into her car. She was issued municipal citations for possession of less than 17 grams of cannabis and possession of drug paraphernalia. Police said they found multiple glass pipes containing cannabis residue in McMorris’s car.

The assistant public defender told the judge that McMorris has been employed as an assistant shoe store manager.

The prosecutor said that McMorris was recently released from the Illinois Department of Corrections where he had been serving a four-year sentence on drug charges. Bail was set at $30,000. Printiss is due back in court in Bridgeview on Aug 10.