'HIGH-RISK' ACTION IN GREENMONT

Armed Traffic Stop Leads To Drug Fugitive's Arrest

[ Photo- Morgantown Police Department officers S.E. Carl (above, from left)
and J.H. Wells take up positions behind a cruiser so they can cover
canine officer C. Lott and his police dog, Yukon. Lott and Yukon
prepare to approach a stopped car on Cherry Street suspected to
contain a fugitive wanted in Pennsylvania. The man was not in the car,
but was captured later in Granville. Morgantown Police detective P.D.
Mezzannotte (below, right) interviews one of two men who were in the
Jeep that was stopped by MPD units on Cherry Street. One of the men
was arrested for marijuana possession.]

Morgantown Police aided in the capture of a fugitive Thursday
following a "high-risk" traffic stop on Cherry Street.

Guns drawn, police surrounded a Jeep in the South Park neighborhood as
a canine and officer approached the vehicle.

But the man they were looking for, Charles Haralson, 23, of Altoona,
Pa., wasn't in the vehicle. He was in the Granville area, where
authorities caught up with him, led by information obtained at the
stop. In a joint effort between the Mon Valley Drug Task Force, Pa.
State Police and the Morgantown Police Department, Haralson was
arrested on fugitive-from-justice charges in Pennsylvania and cocaine
charges in West Virginia, said Morgantown Police Sgt. M.K. Lantz.

Haralson was transported to the North Central Regional Jail and
awaited extradition to Pennsylvania Monday night.

One of the men in the Jeep, Akiba Dillard, 26, of Morgantown, was
arrested for marijuana possession.

"Information obtained at the traffic stop led to Mr. Haralson's
location in the Granville area," Lantz said.

MPD stopped a gray Jeep Cherokee on Cherry Street after Pennsylvania
authorities pinpointed Haralson in Morgantown and linked him to the
vehicle.

"He was thought to have been in the vehicle," Lantz said. "But he
wasn't."

The Jeep was occupied by two males: Dillard and another man who was
not arrested or identified. Both were handcuffed briefly at the scene
while the officer and drug dog approached the Jeep, but were then
uncuffed. Police sources could not precisely say Thursday night when
Dillard was arrested.

Dillard's arrest was unrelated to Haralson, Lantz said. Dillard was
released on $500 personal recognizance bond.

Haralson's cocaine possession charges stem from his arrest Nov. 26,
2003, under a false name he gave police at Morgantown Motel, said a
member of the Mon Valley Drug Task Force.

Haralson, under the false name, was arraigned at Monongalia County
Magistrate Court and later released. He was scheduled to appear under
that name in court in February, according to the source.

At the time, "John Doe's" fingerprints were sent to an FBI lab, the
source said. The source did not want to reveal the alias.

After his release, authorities discovered that the fingerprints taken
from "John Doe" matched those of Haralson, who was wanted on multiple
charges in Bedford County, Pa.

Lantz said police had to treat the traffic stop on Cherry Street as
"high-risk" because of Haralson's history of violent behavior and the
chance that one of the car's occupants may have been armed.

"It was done to protect our officers and the neighborhood," Lantz
said.

The occupants stepped slowly out of the car before a canine and
officer approached it. Police, thinking Haralson remained in the
vehicle, braced themselves and drew their guns as the canine zeroed in
on the car.

"The canine officer was in a vulnerable position," Lantz said. "We
were there to protect him. It's done for safety, no other reason.
Ninety-nine percent of traffic stops are done in a normal manner. With
the possibility that an officer or the public may be in danger, we
have to do a high-risk stop."

The Mon Valley Drug Task Force consists of officers from MPD,
Monongalia County Sheriff's Department, Fairmont Police and the Marion
County Sheriff's Department.