A 63-year-old grandmother has been charged with smuggling “17 kilos” of cocaine in two suitcases from Las Vegas to Detroit after federal agents thought she looks “suspicious,” the Detroit Free Press is reporting.
Cheryl Cheatham, of Phoenix, Arizona, was arrested and charged after being pulled over by federal agents who say they saw her acting suspiciously at the baggage carousel, the newspaper reports.
The agents followed Cheatham to a hotel in Detroit, where she did not check in but stayed in a restaurant and then got into a “hired” Lincoln Navigator. After State Police pulled the Navigator over, a narcotics-sniffing dog discovered cocaine Cheatham’s luggage, the Free Press reports, citing prosecutors.
After being taken into custody, Cheatham was allowed to make a phone call on her cellphone, the paper reports, which was to a contact listed as “Loverboy,” though she said she called her daughter.
Cheatham, who has a criminal history, is mentally ill, her attorney said, and shouldn’t be locked up. But prosecutors say she should be incarcerated due to her criminal past.
She is currently being held and was denied bond.
