Traffic stop by Tarentum police for tinted windows, canceled registration leads to felony gun, drug charges
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Tarentum police accused an Arnold man who isn’t allowed to have a firearm of lying about a gun found in his vehicle during a traffic stop for dark-tinted windows.
Christian Barr Hawkins, 28, of the 2000 block of Kenneth Avenue, Arnold was charged with felony counts of carrying a gun without a license and drug possession, along with counts of making false reports to law enforcement, obstruction of justice and prohibited acts, and traffic citations for the window tint and driving with a canceled registration.
Charges were filed against Hawkins on Aug. 8, but he wasn’t taken into custody until Oct. 22, court records show. He is being detained in the Allegheny County Jail in Pittsburgh after a judge denied bail at his arraignment.
He faces a preliminary hearing before District Judge Carolyn Bengel on Nov. 23, according to court records.
An officer wrote in a criminal complaint that he was patrolling July 27 when he saw a Kia sedan with heavily tinted windows and a registration that was canceled because of a lack of insurance coverage.
Police also noted the Kia’s license plate was reported to have been involved in a police chase July 12 and that the officer planned to file charges against the driver, the complaint said.
The officer said there was a strong odor of marijuana and air freshener in the car, but Hawkins denied smoking it while in the vehicle. He would not allow police to search the car, the complaint said.
Tarentum police said an inventory of the car’s contents was taken after it was towed because that is the borough’s policy for vehicles being impounded, the complaint said.
Hawkins and the woman who was a passenger in the car were released after the car was towed from the scene, police said.
While taking inventory, police found a digital scale on the driver’s side floorboard and another one in the center console, the complaint said.
Police said they confiscated a black satchel from underneath the passenger seat with a Glock 9 mm handgun loaded with 17 rounds of ammunition.
After finding the gun, police stopped the inventory and obtained a search warrant from a judge, the complaint said.
The digital scales — along with a plastic container and leather fanny pack that had white powder residue — were seized when the search warrant was executed, and the powder residue tested positive for cocaine, police said.
Police said Hawkins made more than 30 calls to Tarentum police after the car was impounded to ask what was found inside and when the car was scheduled to be released to him.
When police told Hawkins they found a gun in the car, he denied being the owner, telling them it belonged to the female passenger, Jerrae Leigh Jackson, the complaint said.
Hawkins said Jackson put the bag with the gun under the seat when they were pulled over, the complaint said.
Hawkins pleaded guilty to felony drug charges in June 2015 and is not allowed to possess a gun, police said.
A different woman
Police said that when they spoke to Jackson by telephone July 30, she told them she put the gun in a black Nike bag under the seat. But when she hesitated to provide details about the location of the traffic stop or what she was wearing when they were pulled over, police asked her to come to the station for questioning, the complaint said.
Police said a photo from an officer’s body-worn camera showed that the woman who arrived at the police station to answer questions did not look like the woman in the passenger seat of Hawkins’ car.
The woman in the bodycam photo also has tattoos on her hand and upper chest, which Jackson does not, according to Hawkins’ arrest papers.
When challenged about the disparities, Jackson told officers in a written statement that she was not in the car the night of the traffic stop and that Hawkins called her afterward to ask that she “cover for him for the gun,” the complaint said.
Jackson told police that the day before the traffic stop she was showing off the gun to Hawkins, and he asked if he could have it because he is a convicted felon and couldn’t get one on his own, the complaint said.
Jackson, 24, was charged with misdemeanor counts of making sworn falsification to authorities, illegal sale or transfer of a firearm and making false reports to police, which are misdemeanors.
She was released from custody on her own recognizance and faces a Nov. 23 preliminary hearing on the charges before Bengel.