A 32-year-old city man was arrested on motor vehicle and drug charges late Sunday when his story about his gravely ill mother fell apart.
Just before midnight, Officer Thomas Lattanzio noticed a Dodge pick-up parked with its engine running in the driveway of a rooming house on East Washington Avenue. The location was known to police as a hot spot for prostitution and drug activity.
Lattanzio parked his squad car and a short time later Desmond Wilson, of 752 Huntington Road, pulled out and drove to an apartment building on Crescent Avenue. Lattanzio pulled him over there.
When the officer noticed the odor of marijuana, Wilson acknowledged having smoked. But he added that he was in a hurry to get back to Bridgeport Hospital to see his mother and had come to the Crescent Avenue apartment building to alert a relative, who he said lives there, that she might not make it through the night.
He also said the truck belonged to his aunt and that he had just bought it from her. Lattanzio checked out the story and told Wilson he would show leniency on the motor vehicle charges if his aunt actually lived there. But as he knocked on numerous doors in the building to look for the alleged aunt, residents said no one by that name lived there.
In addition, a registration check showed the last owner of the truck was a male and that its registration was expired.
Wilson was charged with several motor vehicle charges including driving with a suspended license, driving an unregistered motor vehicle and having insufficient insurance.
While being booked, the detention officer instructed Wilson to remove his shoes and when he did a plastic bag containing crack cocaine fell out of his right shoe. Wilson also was charged with possession of narcotics.
The truck was towed for safekeeping.
