GENEVA —
An Ashtabula man faces felony drug charges after a Geneva police officer found heroin, opiates and anti-anxiety pills in the man’s truck, wallet and shorts.
Joshua M. Notte, 27, faces two felony drug charges and a charge of operating a vehicle while intoxicated, Western County Court records show, after Officer Mike Miller pulled him over on Austin Road, police reports show.
After failing the field sobriety test, Notte insisted he was not intoxicated and had no drugs in his possession, Miller said, but told officers he was traveling to Geneva-on-the-Lake while headed south.
Notte told Miller he was headed to the village to a house near Joey’s Grille and Ace Auto Parts. None of those businesses are in the Geneva area.
“His speech was thick and he was foaming at the sides of his mouth,” Miller said. “(Notte) later asked if he failed a part of the field sobriety test. When I told him he had failed, he said he believed he failed because he couldn’t have done it sober.”
During the search of Notte’s blue pickup truck, Miller found a rock and white powder residue in a folded piece of paper hidden in the stick shift. Notte’s wallet, which was left on the passenger seat, had one dollar and two oxycodone pills, police reports show.
In a container wedged into the passenger seat, Miller discovered a rock and white powder residue. The residue and rocks later tested as heroin, police reports show.
At the Geneva Police Station, Notte agreed to give a urine sample, but wouldn’t pull his pants down to urinate in the bottle, Miller said.
“He wouldn’t pull his shorts down all the way. When he finally moved them to the side, a baggy of pills fell to the ground,” Miller said.
The baggy contained ten anti-anxiety pills of three different milligram doses, police reports show.
Notte will appear in court on Monday to answer to charges of possession of oxycodone, possession of heroin and the OVI charge. He has posted bond and was appointed a public defender, court records show.
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