An Eagle resident was charged with felony cocaine possession on Feb. 2 after police allegedly found the substance in his vehicle following his arrest on a separate out-of-county felony warrant for vehicular manslaughter.
According to a probable-cause for arrest affidavit from Blaine County Sheriff’s Deputy Levi Lindley, the officer was driving westbound on state Highway 26 near Carey Lake when he saw a “black, lifted” Ford F-350 headed in the opposite direction and traveling at a high rate of speed.
Using radar, he determined the truck was traveling at 85 mph, 20 mph above the 65-mph limit, and conducted a traffic stop, Lindley wrote in his report.
The driver—42-year-old Travis James Stroud, of Eagle—allegedly told Lindley that his speedometer may have been inaccurate due to “large, oversized tires.” Lindley ran Stroud’s plate through Blaine County Emergency Communications and discovered that Stroud had a “valid and extraditable” felony warrant out of Canyon County, he wrote.
Court records indicate that the warrant was connected to Stroud’s felony vehicular manslaughter charge, filed in Canyon County on July 16, 2021.
Two minors also in the vehicle were transported separately to the Blaine County Detention Center to await pickup by a relative, Lindley wrote. Meanwhile, BCSO Lt. Jamie Shaw inventoried the vehicle where it was stopped north of Carey and allegedly recovered a “white substance that resembled cocaine and a straw covered in the same white substance” inside a ski google case, Lindley wrote. The straw resulted in an additional misdemeanor drug paraphernalia possession charge.
The powder in the case weighed about a gram and returned a presumptive-positive result for cocaine, Lindley stated.
While in custody, Stroud allegedly denied that the cocaine was his, stating that “friends may have left the cocaine in his vehicle last month” and that he “didn’t know about the cocaine until 3-4 days ago, when he found it while cleaning out his car,” according to the police report.
“Stroud stated that he was meaning to call his friends and try to figure out whose it was, but has been extremely busy and forgot about it,” Lindley wrote.
At Stroud’s arraignment on Feb. 2, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Stacie Summerhill argued to set his bond at $7,500 due to his “flight risk” while defense attorney Jamie Moon asked for a court-ordered release on his own recognizance or a “minimal” bond. Judge Jennifer Haemmerle set Stroud’s bond at $5,000, which he posted that same day.
Stroud is due back in Fifth District Court in Hailey the morning of March 28 for a preliminary hearing, during which it will be decided whether his drug charge will proceed as a felony.
Stroud was also due to be arraigned on his felony manslaughter charge in Canyon County District Court in Caldwell after press time, court records show. He is also being represented by Moon in that case.
If found guilty on the cocaine charge, Stroud faces a maximum penalty of seven years in state prison and up to $15,000 in fines. 
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