A traffic stop for an illegal cardboard tag turned out to be much more than a ticket for an unregistered vehicle.
The discovery of an open bottle of liquor, an outstanding warrant, and more than two dozen financial cards and checks that were not in the driver’s or passenger’s names resulted in two arrests and a busy afternoon for Eatonton police officers Alex Rickey and Rebecca Meeks.
Rickey stopped the 2011 white Nissan Altima around 12:30 p.m. March 11, at the intersection of South Jefferson Avenue and West Walnut Street, according to his report.
The driver, Janet Jackson, and the passenger, Joshua Fender, both got out of their vehicle at the same time the officer was exiting his patrol car.
When Jackson learned she’d been pulled over because the Altima had a cardboard tag with “tag applied for” handwritten on it, she reportedly told the officer she’d had trouble getting the car registered because the person she bought it from was incarcerated.
Rickey asked how long ago she’d purchased the vehicle, and Jackson said more than two years ago.
Rickey wrote in his report that as he and Jackson talked, he noticed Fender standing beside the passenger door and looking into the vehicle. When the officer questioned what he was doing, Fender reportedly said he had an open bottle of liquor in the passenger seat that he didn’t want to get in trouble for.
Meanwhile, a check of Jackson’s license through the National Crime Information Center revealed an outstanding warrant out of Colquitt County for failure to appear; and officer Meeks arrived to assist Rickey.
A consensual search of the Nissan revealed an open bottle of Fireball Cinnamon in the front passenger seat and the financial transaction cards, blank checks, birth certificates and a Philippine passport located in the glove compartment, and in the center console, Jackson’s purse and Fender’s wallet. The financial and identity items were from many different banks or financial companies and bore as many different names as the items themselves.
After Rickey informed Jackson she was facing charges and advised her of her Miranda rights, Jackson reportedly told the officers she “works for an elderly man and found all the documents and cards in his house.” She said she didn’t know what to do with them, so she just kept them in her car, Rickey wrote in his report.
Fender, who also had been advised of his charges and Mirandized, said he used to repossess vehicles and all the cards in his wallet came from the vehicles he had repossessed. He reportedly said he kept them in his wallet because he was trying to get them returned to their rightful owners.
Janet Elizabeth Maria Jackson, 29, of 27th Street, Moultrie, was charged with financial transaction card theft, identity fraud, driving an unregistered vehicle and an open container. She is being held without bond in Putnam County Jail and also is on hold for Colquitt County authorities.
Joshua Willie Fender, 39, of the same address, is charged with financial transaction card theft and an open container in a vehicle.