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A St. Paul man, Rodney White, age 31, was sentenced in Redwood County Court for drug and driving offenses resulting from a traffic stop for not using his turn signal.

According to court documents, on April 27, 2020, a Redwood Falls Police Officer noted a vehicle at a stop sign at the intersection of Fallwood Road and Dekalb Street. When the officer noted the car, the driver turned his head away as if to conceal his face. The officer followed the vehicle until it pulled into the Garnette Gardens parking lot without using its turn signal.

When the officer approached the parked car about the turn signal violation, the driver, Rodney White, refused to make eye contact, stared at his phone the whole time, and couldn’t come up with an explanation why he was parked at Garnette Gardens.

According to the officer, White was showing physical signs of substance abuse symptoms, and smelled of alcohol. When the officer asked White to exit the vehicle, White kept reaching for his pants pocket despite the officer telling him not to. White finally admitted he had a methamphetamine pipe on his person.

A search of the vehicle turned up five baggies of methamphetamine, and tests showed White had alcohol, THC, and methamphetamine in his system. He also had a suspended drivers license, and an active warrant for his arrest from Redwood County Court.

On Feb. 27, Rodney White was sentenced to 84 months in the correctional facility in St. Cloud, 90 days local confinement, and fees and fines of $85.