Lower Frederick Police Seize Cash, Drug Paraphernalia During Car Search

Schwenksville resident Kenneth Gunning Lyle III is expected to turn himself in to police today after a search of his Cadillac allegedly yielded a “small amount” of marijuana, $386 in cash and drug paraphernalia, reported last week.

According to the probable cause for a search warrant, Lower Frederick Police Chief Paul Maxey was traveling north on Route 29/Gravel Pike by Zieglerville Road when he “observed a black Cadillac CTS 4 … traveling southbound on Route 29 at a high rate of speed” around 11 p.m. Wednesday, May 11.

Maxey activated the police car’s lights and followed the vehicle, which was moving at more than 100 mph, the report states. Concerned about the potential danger of traveling at such a high rate of speed, Maxey wrote that he “allowed the Cadillac to go and slowed down.” He contacted fellow Lower Frederick police officer Roland F. Walker III for assistance in locating the vehicle, according to the report.

At 11:21 p.m., Maxey stated he spotted the Cadillac parked in a driveway of a residence in the 100 block of Spring Mount Road. Looking inside the vehicle, Maxey alleged he observed “in plain view in the vehicle cup holder, a glass pipe with what looked like burnt residue. Also observed in the cup holder was a pill bottle containing what looked like a greenish vegetable matter (suspected marijuana).”

He knocked on the home’s door, and he was met by a woman identifying herself as Kathy Walter—the home’s renter, the report states. Walter reportedly said the car belonged to her boyfriend, Ken Lyle, but he had “just been picked up by a friend,” and wasn’t at home, according to Maxey.

Walter said Lyle had recently driven the car to the Wawa at Routes 29 and 73, the report states. Maxey asked Walter to contact Lyle and have him return to the residence to talk with police, according to the report.

Walker, who was in position at the rear of the house “for security purposes,” the report states, allegedly saw a man in his 30s in the residence. He also reported seeing Walter go into a room and talk to the man; he relayed this information to Maxey.

When Maxey shared Walker’s report with Walter and asked for permission to search the home for Lyle, Walter refused, saying “her children were in the home and confused about the situation,” the report states.

Maxey then asked Walter “if she had the keys to the Cadillac so the suspected marijuana and paraphernalia could be seized in connection with the plain view doctrine,” according to the report. Walter indicated she did not have the keys; Lyle did, Maxey reported.

The vehicle was subsequently impounded, and a search warrant was obtained, according to police.

Lyle has been previously arrested for “drug violations,” police report.