INSTEAD OF DRUGS, POLICE BUSTED MAN WITH BAG OF GRAIN

Lexington, N.C. - Police called it the city's largest methamphetamine
bust. But it turned out to be nothing more than a mixture of flour and
cornmeal.

Authorities dismissed charges last week against Jose Guadalupe
Pedro-Cruz, 33, of Lexington, who was arrested March 20 on charges of
trafficking 7 pounds of methamphetamine.

When the material was sent to the State Bureau of Investigation for
testing, laboratory analysts learned that the material seized from
Pedro-Cruz's car was not a controlled substance at all.

Family members told a local translator that the material, sent to
Pedro-Cruz from his father in Mexico, was ground corn and regional
candies made of Mexican squash and sweet potato. Lexington police said
that tests confirmed that some of the material was cornmeal but could
not positively identify the colored candies.

"Everything was done basically in good faith," said Capt. Mike Brown
of the Lexington Police Department. "As soon as we found out, we tried
to make things right."

Pedro-Cruz was released from the Davidson County Jail on Wednesday. He
had been held under $100,000 bond since his arrest.

Police said they were still investigating the case.

Investigators were alerted to Pedro-Cruz when an off-duty police
officer saw him retrieve what Brown called a suspicious package from
the post office.

Police seized the package outside Pedro-Cruz's house in Lexington.
Initial tests done on the material - using what Brown called a
field-test kit - showed that the material was methamphetamine, he said.

SBI officials told Lexington police that the field-test kits are not
reliable when testing for methamphetamine, Brown said.