Cops: Car We Pulled Over Had Some Weird Things Inside

Like ... uranium
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 12, 2019 9:11 AM CDT
Cops: Inside Stolen Car Was Rattlesnake, Uranium, This Guy
Stephen Jennings   (Guthrie Police Department)

An officer in Oklahoma stopped a car with expired tags only to discover that it was stolen. The surprises just kept coming. A search of the vehicle pulled over in Guthrie on June 26 revealed a gun in the console next to an open bottle of whiskey, a canister of powdered uranium, and a rattlesnake in the backseat, Guthrie police tell ABC News. "It was surprising to the officer, obviously," says Sgt. Anthony Gibbs. After allegedly joking that he planned to use the uranium to "make a mega-snake," driver Stephen Jennings reportedly explained the material was used with his Geiger counter in order to test radioactivity in metal sold to scrapyards. It's not illegal to possess the uranium. An expert tells KFOR that the type found can be bought cheaply on Amazon and is only harmful if inhaled or ingested.

"You need something radioactive to test the Geiger counter so this would be one of the best ways to do it," says Dr. Eric Eitrheim of the University of Central Oklahoma. Gibbs said Jennings was also in legal possession of the pet Timber rattlesnake "because he has a valid lifetime hunting and fishing license" and "it happens to be rattlesnake season," per KFOR. Still, the snake was euthanized because Guthrie bans dangerous animals as pets. Jennings, in jail in Guthrie, is charged with possession of a stolen vehicle, transporting an open container of liquor, operating a vehicle with a suspended license, and failure to carry security verification form. His passenger, Rachael Rivera, is charged with possession of a firearm after a felony conviction. (More weird crimes stories.)

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