September 20, 2019  |  01:41 pm

The St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office has taken a significant amount of narcotics off the streets following a traffic stop Thursday afternoon (Sept. 19).

At approximately 2 p.m. on Thursday, an STPSO patrol deputy conducted a traffic stop on a pickup truck traveling on Fish Hatchery Road in Lacombe. 

During the stop, the driver, Harold Batiste (DOB 5/27/1973) of Lacombe, was detained for resisting an officer after he refused to exit vehicle and was repeatedly uncooperative with deputies. 

A subsequent search of Batiste and the pickup truck he was driving uncovered a large stash of illegal narcotics, cash and drug paraphernalia.  

Deputies located approximately 193.0 grams of suspected heroin, approximately 105.3 grams of powder cocaine and approximately 67.2 grams of crack cocaine, drug paraphernalia and $5,500 of suspected drug proceeds. 

Batiste was arrested on the following charges and booked into the St. Tammany Parish Jail:
L.R.S. 40:966A Possession with Intent to Distribute Schedule I (Heroin)
L.R.S. 40:967AC Possession with Intent to Distribute Schedule II (Cocaine)
L.R.S. 40:1023 Possession of Drug Paraphernalia
L.R.S. 14:108 Resisting an Officer (two counts)
L.R.S. 40:1041 Transactions Involving Proceeds Drug Offenses
L.R.S. 32:79 Improper Lane Use
L.R.S. 32:361.1 Illegal Window Tint
L.R.S. 32:306 Stop Lamps Required

“This man is a dangerous drug dealer in our community, and I am proud of the work of our deputies who made this traffic stop and successfully removed these very dangerous drugs off our streets,” Sheriff Randy Smith said.