PD: East Hampton Man Busted With Drugs, Brass Knuckles

An East Hampton man is facing drug and weapons charges after being pulled over by Middletown Police early Wednesday morning.

Steven Stofli, 18, of 33 Fern Lane, Middle Haddam, is charged with possession of marijuana, possession of marijuana with intent to sell, possession of drug paraphernalia, weapons in a motor vehicle and a highbeam violation.

According to a report, shortly before 2 a.m. on Oct. 10, police received an anonymous call about a possibly intoxicated driver crossing the Arrigoni Bridge into the city from Portland.

When police stopped a Chevrolet Impala matching the description, the driver, identified as Stofli, appeared to conceal something in the passenger side of the vehicle and the responding officer could also smell a strong odor of marijuana coming from the vehicle, according to the report.

The report says Stofli was noticably nervous and when asked where he was going told the officer he was bringing his passenger to a friend's house on Santangelo Circle in Middletown.

During the traffic stop, the officer also noticed two glass pipes, a marijuana grinder and other drug materials in the vehicle's center console, the report says.

Upon a search of the vehicle the officer found additional sandwich bags containing marijuana, as well as a ziplock bag containing five pocket knives and brass knuckles.

In total, police say Stofli had 27.5 grams of marijuana in the vehicle and admitted to selling the drugs. He posted a $5,000 bond and is due in court on Oct. 24.

The passenger in the vehicle, whose identity police did not release, was not charged.

Editor's note: In the original version of this story we reported that Stofli was from Haddam. We apologize for the error.