A Haines man convicted in 2011 of attempting to import Ecstasy through the Dalton Cache border was arrested Saturday for trying to bring cocaine through the same checkpoint.
Border personnel found a small plastic bag of cocaine under the front passenger seat in Dennim Hagwood’s truck when he tried to enter the United States from Canada at about 6:45 p.m.
Hagwood, 22, was convicted in 2011 for trying to import 802 pills of Ecstasy through the same border station. For that offense, he was sentenced to 16 months of home confinement, 750 hours of community service and five years of probation.
According to court documents, Hagwood and a 24-year-old man arrived at the border station to cross into the U.S. Hagwood was driving, and the vehicle was registered in his name.
When the two men attempted to go through the border, guards searched the car. After finding the “white powdery substance” that tested positive for cocaine, they also patted down the two men, but found nothing.
Both of the men denied ownership of the drugs.
Officer Ryan Rutland from the Haines Borough Police Department arrived on scene and took Hagwood into custody after the federal Department of Homeland Security Investigations declined to prosecute. Hagwood’s bail was set at $7,500.
Magistrate John Hutchins said the charge is the first for cocaine possession in his 14 years here.