pWADDINGTON — U.S. Border Patrol agents allege that an Oswego County man conspired to distribute marijuana after 110 pounds of the drug was allegedly found in the trunk of a vehicle he was operating on Route 37./ppBrett Thomas, age not available, Parish, is charged with conspiring to possess with the intent to distribute less than 50 kilograms of marijuana, according to a criminal complaint filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court, Plattsburgh./ppAccording to the complaint, agents stopped a 2004 Buick Regal June 8 on Route 37 in the town of Waddington for unspecified reasons. Mr. Thomas, the driver, said he was driving to Hogansburg to visit his sister. Agents said they were “familiar” with Mr. Thomas from a June 2015 encounter in Gouverneur in which agents said he was suspected of “scouting” for the presence of law enforcement in an incident in which another person was charged by state police with having 50 pounds of marijuana in their vehicle. Mr. Thomas was not charged in that incident./ppOn June 9, agents say they observed a vehicle that had also allegedly been involved in the June 2015 incident traveling in Ogdensburg. A short time later, they allegedly saw Mr. Thomas’s Buick traveling south on Route 37. Agents claim that when their vehicle passed Mr. Thomas “they saw him cover up his face with his left hand, which in their training and experience was a sign that he was trying to avoid detection.”/ppAgents followed Mr. Thomas’s vehicle for about 15 miles, during which time he allegedly “appeared nervous in that he shifted in his seat, continuously checked his rear-view mirror multiple times, drove exactly the speed limit, and appeared to be tightly gripping the steering wheel.” His vehicle was halted and Mr. Thomas again allegedly appeared nervous and an agent “could see that his hand was visibly shaking” as he smoked a cigarette./ppA K-9 unit responded to the scene and alerted police to the vehicle’s trunk. Agents searched the trunk and allegedly found 100 clear bags containing 1.1 pounds each of marijuana. Mr. Thomas appeared in federal court Tuesday and was released on his own recognizance. /p
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