A 19-year-old Cody resident is facing multiple criminal charges after being caught with marijuana products, a stolen gun and alcohol last month.
Based on the supplies found in his vehicle — and the accounts of three younger passengers — Park County prosecutors allege that Joseph A. Wooden had been planning to sell the marijuana and marijuana wax in his possession.
Wooden is charged with a felony count of possessing a controlled substance with intent to deliver and misdemeanor counts of theft, underage alcohol possession and speeding. He made an initial appearance in Park County Circuit Court on Tuesday and was released on a signature bond pending a preliminary hearing.
The case began around 5 p.m. on April 16, when Wyoming Highway Patrol Trooper Danny Hite spotted a SUV speeding just west of Powell. According to an affidavit from Hite, he clocked the westbound vehicle traveling 57 miles per hour in the 45 mph transition zone on U.S. Highway 14-A.
After pulling the vehicle over and observing Wooden and his three juvenile passengers, the trooper quickly became suspicious.
“Wooden seemed overly nervous and I could see that his hands were shaking when he gave me the requested vehicle documents,” Hite wrote.
Further, Hite spotted what looked like marijuana wax — and a large butane torch for smoking it — inside the vehicle. When the trooper pointed out those items, Wooden “became even more nervous,” the affidavit says.
Hite eventually searched the vehicle’s center console and found: 22 small, individually packaged containers of suspected marijuana wax; several individual packages and a small Mason jar of apparent marijuana in plant form; and a digital scale that appeared to have marijuana residue on top. Meanwhile, the trooper found a quarter-full bottle of Captain Morgan’s spiced rum under the passenger seat, plus a can of Twisted Hard Iced Tea and a bottle of Mike’s Hard Lemonade in a backpack in the trunk. Then there was the loaded Sig Sauer P320 pistol in the driver’s side door pocket.
Wooden said the marijuana was his, the affidavit alleges, but said the alcohol belonged to a friend and that the pistol had been stolen.
Hite would later learn that the gun had been reported stolen in January, taken from a Cody home where Wooden used to live; Wooden’s roommate told authorities that the weapon went missing after he made Wooden move out.
