A passenger who caught a ride from a convenience store in Euharlee and gave him a ride ended up in the Polk County Jail on drug charges during a search of his possessions amid a traffic stop, according to Rockmart Police.

Officers arrested Freddie Douglas Ponder, 54, of a Cartersville address, during the traffic stop on early Saturday morning, February 11, 2023, on felony and misdemeanor drug charges after police found pills and a human tooth in a bottle in his possessions.

Per the report, police pulled over the driver on Prospect Road at TipTop Poultry for an expired registration and issued him a warning and let him leave, but first asked him about why Ponder was riding with him.

The driver told police he picked him up at a convenience store in Euharlee when he asked if he needed a ride, and didn’t know him. Officers asked if they could search the car, and the driver gave them permission.

Police then talked to Ponder, who gave officers permission to search his possessions. They found a trio of pills they later identified as Modafinil and the tooth in a container on Ponder when he was searched.

Officers inquired further about the tooth, which Ponder admitted that he pulled himself due to the pain it was causing. While being taken into custody, he explained the pills came from a significant other who had a prescription, but that he didn’t have one himself.

Police took Ponder to the Polk County Jail without further incident, where he remained in custody as of this posting on a $4,000 bond on charges of Possession of a Schedule IV Controlled Substance, and drugs not in original container.