State Police Traffic Stop In Andover Leads To Arrest Of North Andover Man On Drug, Firearm Charges

ANDOVER, MA -- When a Massachusetts State Police officer pulled Kemron Roach, 22, of North Andover, on Route 125 in Andover for marked lanes violations at about 3:40 am Tuesday, the first thing he noticed was a strong smell of "burnt marijuana" coming from Roach's Jeep Cherokee. Roach's eyes were bloodshot and marijuana was out in plain sight on the center console.

The trooper, Stephen Thomson, called for back up. When Trooper Mark Ward arrived, Thomson had Roach leave the vehicle to conduct field sobriety tests. It was then he noticed a twist-tied baggie full of what appeared to be crack cocaine on the driver's seat and a large hunting knife in the door panel. A subsequent search of the car found eight Xanax pills and a loaded 9mm Glock model 17 pistol with 7 live cartridges in a 15 capacity magazine.

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Roach was arrested and was scheduled to be arraigned on multiple charges in Lawrence District Court. Roach is facing multiple charges, including Possession of a firearm without a permit, possession of ammunition without a permit, possession of a large capacity weapon, possession of a pistol, firearms violation with two prior drug/violent offenses, possession of Class B substance (crack cocaine), possession of Class C substance (Xanax), open container (Marijuana) and marked lane violation.

Photo by Massachusetts State Police.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).