Just before midnight on January 15, Officer Bissell conducted a traffic stop on a U-Haul, but little did he know that a simple traffic stop would lead to a weed and stolen vehicle bust. Officer Bissell was at a different traffic stop with a woman speeding when the stolen U-Haul drove past. “I gave the female a warning as I watched the U-Haul go past, I let him drive past me before going after him.” Says Bissell. Officer Bissell clocked the U-Haul going 63 mph in a 30 zone.
Officer Bissell has been in the police force for 10 years and has had many job titles. He started at the state prison and was there for 4 years. “I got tired of babysitting and wanted to actually catch the bad guys,” says Bissell. After working at the state prison, he transferred to the Nye County Sheriff’s Office in 2013 and worked patrol for some years before moving to detective for 5 years, as well as being on the Nye County SWAT team before taking 2 years off to open his own business. Only recently has he come back to the SWAT team and returned to being on patrol. He has worked with narcotics and other things of that matter while being a detective and has had many odd stops while on patrol.
The U-Haul was driven by a man named Cobra Hooper, who has a criminal history . Hooper had driven the U-Haul from San Antonio Texas, to Pahrump Nevada after making multiple stops. The U-Haul had been in his possession since November even though Hooper stated that he had rented the U-Haul from a friend that day and that he didn’t know that it was stolen. But receipts and parking passes with his name on it dating back to around November proved otherwise. Hooper had used the U-Haul earlier that day to help a woman move. “He had helped a woman move in Vegas earlier that day but they didn’t have time to unload everything,” Says Bissell. After turning on his emergency lights, Bissell followed Hooper into the Saddle West Hotel Casino parking lot where it seemed like Hooper tried to get to a place where he could run for it, but Bissell boxed him in.
Hooper was acting very suspicious which made Bissell think he was hiding something. Bissell detained Hooper and searched the vehicle, which he was allowed to do because Bissell ran the U-haul’s plates and it came back as stolen which was probable cause for search. While searching the vehicle, Bissell found a backpack in the passenger seat, and a bunch of household items in the box of the truck, which had belonged to the woman he helped move earlier that day. In the bag, there was around 3 ounces of weed, along with small plastic baggies and a scale, and other paraphernalia. Which would make it look like Hooper was selling the weed, which is a felony in itself.
Hooper was charged with possession of a stolen vehicle, possession of schedule 1-5 narcotics, and speeding. Though weed is legal in Nevada you are only allowed to have a certain amount in dispensary bags, adults that are 21 years or older can only carry up to 2.5 ounces but anything over that is illegal and can lead to a fine or prison time. Hooper could be facing up to 5 years in prison for the stolen vehicle, and around 2,000 dollars in fines for the weed and speeding. In the end, this story shows how no matter how long you get away with something you’re going to end up getting caught eventually.
