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Officer Devin Rivera was patrolling the area near the intersection of Leonia Avenue and Hill Street around 1 a.m. Saturday when he spotted a parked Toyota SUV with two men passing something back and forth, Polie Chief Daniel Maye said.
"Once they noticed Officer Rivera, the two men stopped what they were doing avoiding making any eye contact," Maye said. "[They] then quickly exited the vehicle and began walking away from it."
Rivera then "spun his car around" and grabbed both men near the SUV, the chief said.
He "could smell an odor of raw marijuana emanating from their clothes," he said.
Inside the vehicle police found a large glass mason jar behind the driver’s seat containing pot, Maye said.
Officers took Daniel A. Robinson, 26, of Teaneck and Dshawn Steptoe, 39, of Bayonne and into custody and had the vehicle towed to headquarters while detectives obtained a search warrant.
The search turned up five more bags of marijuana -- bringing the total to nearly a third of an ounce -- along wiith sandwich bags used to package the pot, odor-resistant zip-locking bags to conceal the smell, a digital scale and a portable hard drive and laptop.
"The marijuana was divided into one ounce bags using the sandwich bags for easy transaction and distribution," Maye said. "Each individual bag contained the same amount of the [drug], and several bags were marked with a silver or gold sharpie marker [that was] also found in the vehicle.
Robinson, who has a previous drug arrest history in Bergen County, and Steptoe were charged with possession of the pot with the intent to distribute it, among other offenses.
They were released pending a Monday court hearing.
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