The Picayune Police Department recently made arrests in two separate drug-related cases.

On Thursday, May 28 at 10:50 a.m., a Picayune Police officer responded to a call regarding a suspicious person parked outside a local quick stop, Assistant Chief Jeremy Magri said.

Upon the officer’s arrival, he noticed a black Ford Ranger pickup truck stationed near the business. The officer approached the vehicle and observed a male subject, later identified as 27-year-old Jerome Theriot Jr. of 18 Central Dr. in Metairie, La., attempting to pull himself up from the vehicle’s floorboard. At that time, the officer asked Theriot to exit the vehicle, Magri said.

While speaking with the subject, the officer allegedly noticed Theriot to be visibly unsteady on his feet with slurred speech, Magri said.

The officer then searched the vehicle and found a soda can with one side cut off revealing burnt marks and residue–indicating it was possibly used to ingest narcotics– lying on the vehicle’s floorboard, Magri said.

The officer also found a plastic bag containing numerous green pills identified as 40 milligram doses of oxycodone and a green leafy substance believed to be marijuana inside the vehicle’s fuse box underneath the hood of the truck, Magri said.

Through further investigation, the officer learned Theriot was distributing the pills, Magri said.

Theriot was charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute within 1,500 feet of a school or church, possession of paraphernalia, public drunkenness and possession of marijuana.

During another case that occurred on May 29, an officer conducted a traffic stop at the intersection of Fifth Street and North Haugh Avenue for running a stop sign and no tag light, Magri said.

When the officer approached the vehicle, he allegedly smelled an intoxicating beverage coming from the driver, later identified as 49-year-old Sophocles Frangakis of 54 Redwood Dr., Magri said.

The officer noticed Frankgakis’s eyes were bloodshot and his speech was slurred, Magri said.

When Frangakis was unable to provide a driver’s license, the officer asked him to exit the vehicle. The officer then conducted several standardized field sobriety tests, which the subject failed, Magri said.

When the officer searched the vehicle, he located two glass pipes commonly used to inhale controlled substances lying on the dashboard. He also noticed a clear plastic bag containing a crystallized substance believed to be crystal methamphetamine inside a black eyeglass case located above the front passenger side visor, Magri said.

Frangakis was charged with felony possession of a controlled substance, possession of paraphernalia, no tag light, running a stop sign, no driver’s license and DUI after refusing to take the breathalyzer test, Magri said.