A North Liberty woman and a Coralville man were charged with controlled-substance violations and possessing or distributing without a drug tax stamp.

According to a North Liberty police complaint, Edna Hector, 28, and Kelvin Dumas, 19, were charged April 14.

Dumas and Hector were reportedly stopped by police officials for having no tail lights on a vehicle when Dumas consented for the car to be searched. Hector refused to let police officials search her purse, the report said. According to the complaint, when police officials searched the car, they found numerous plastic bags and a digital scale in the back seat near Hector’s purse.

Dumas asked police officials to stop the search, but police officials called for a K-9 and swabbed the scale for narcotics, the report said. Police officials could see a large bag of marijuana in plain sight of Hector’s purse and another bag was found in a backpack.

Officers were unable to weigh the marijuana on site but reportedly determined it weighed more than 42.5 grams, which requires a tax stamp.

Possessing or distributing without a tax stamp is a Class-D felony. A controlled-substance violation is also a Class-D felony.

— by Jordyn Reiland