A routine traffic stop on Interstate 40 led to a drug bust after a Cumberland County Sheriff’s deputy discovered over 13 grams of suspected cocaine hidden inside a vehicle.

On September 4, 2026, Deputy Holden Atkinson initiated a traffic stop on a blue 2025 Kia Sportage heading eastbound near mile marker 320. According to the incident report, the deputy pulled the vehicle over after observing it swerve over the fog line and noticing an obstructed license plate.

During the stop, Deputy Atkinson identified the driver as James Smith and the front-seat passenger as Lesa Selby. After observing an open alcohol container in a brown paper bag on the passenger side and noting that Smith was chewing breath mints, the deputy escalated the investigation into potential impairment.

Suspicion grew when the deputy observed Selby ducking down and reaching under the front passenger seat while Smith repeatedly approached the vehicle after being asked to wait near the patrol car. When requested, Smith refused a voluntary search of the vehicle, citing 34 years of legal practice.

Deputy Atkinson then deployed K9 Kilo to perform an exterior free-air sniff around the SUV. The K9 alerted positively at the front passenger-side door, establishing probable cause for a search.

A search under the front passenger seat yielded a plastic bag containing two smaller bags of a white powder-like substance suspected to be cocaine. The bags weighed 8.64 grams and 4.90 grams, totaling roughly 13.54 grams—an amount authorities state is consistent with drug distribution rather than personal use.

Both Smith and Selby were arrested, read their Miranda rights, and transported to the Cumberland County Jail. Authorities seized the suspects’ cell phones to obtain search warrants, and the suspected narcotics have been submitted to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Crime Laboratory for testing.

Both have an $8,500 bond.