BROWNSTOWN — A Jackson County judge has granted a request from an attorney to stop representing a California man accused of possessing 55 pounds of marijuana but later bonded out of jail, telling the judge that his client has not responded to his efforts to contact him since late July.
On Monday, Jackson Circuit Court Judge Richard W. Poynter granted a request from Indianapolis attorney Jeremy Johnson, who sought to stop representing and withdraw as the attorney of record for defendant Rogelio Corona Medina, according to court filings. In his request, Johnson said he had been attempting to get in contact with Corona Medina since July 29 but “has not had success.”
Corona Medina, 40, of Merced, Calif., was arrested by Indiana State Police during a traffic stop on Interstate 65 in May after officers located an estimated 55 pounds of marijuana in compressed, vacuum-sealed bags in the back of the minivan he was driving, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in Jackson Circuit Court.
The California man was charged with dealing at least 10 pounds of marijuana, a Level 5 felony, according to court records. However, Corona Medina — who police said in court filings may have been in possession of upwards of $275,000 in marijuana — bonded out of Jackson County Jail on May 31, the same day that Poynter set a $2,000 cash bond.
The incident that led to Corona Medina’s arrest started just before 11:30 a.m. on May 23, when an Indiana State Trooper observed a silver Chrysler Pacifica minivan driving southbound on Interstate 65 at 87 miles per hour, according to a probable cause affidavit.
The driver of the minivan, later identified as Corona Medina, allegedly told police during a traffic stop near the 53 mile marker that he had rented the van and was driving to Atlanta to pick up his mother from the airport after her flight arrived from Mexico.
When asked where he was coming from, Corona Medina allegedly said “the next town back and was very vague … (and) did not know the name of the town he was allegedly coming from,” the officer states in the affidavit. The officer then asked to see a copy of his vehicle rental agreement, which allegedly showed that he had rented the vehicle in California, and it was due back that day or the next day.
The officer returned to his squad car to conduct records checks on Corona Medina, finding that he had a valid California driver’s license and had no active warrants. When the officer went back to the minivan to give Corona Medina a warning for speeding, he asked why he was coming through Indiana if he was traveling from California to Atlanta.
Corona Medina allegedly told the officer that he was rerouted due to a “hurricane” in Iowa.
The officer noted in the affidavit that the suspect likely was referring to a tornado, but the response raised suspicions, as traveling from California to Atlanta would not require traveling near Iowa or Indiana “without going out of the way significantly.”
The officer then asked if there was anything illegal in the van. Corona Medina said, “No, there’s nothing” but then refused to consent to a search of the vehicle.
In response, the officer had Corona Medina step out of the vehicle and brought in a K-9 officer to perform an open-air sniff around the van, which led to the K-9 officer alerting to the smell of drugs coming from the back of the vehicle.
When the officer told Corona Medina that the K-9 officer had detected drugs, he said it because he had smoked marijuana the previous night and “questioned why (police) would search the van and contents.”
“He seemed to think that because he said that he smoked marijuana previously, but it was gone, that I shouldn’t search it,” the officer states in the affidavit.
A second Indiana State Trooper then arrived to assist. Corona Medina was handcuffed and red his Miranda Rights, which he allegedly waived and told the officers that there were no drugs in the vehicle. When asked again about the contents of the vehicle, Corona Medina conceded that the van contained “a little” marijuana.
One of the officers searched the rear of the van and found two large hockey-style bags containing a total of 55 compressed, vacuum-sealed bags of suspected marijuana, with each bag weighing around one pound, according to court records.
While police estimated the total amount to be about 55 pounds, Corona Medina told the police that the van contained 60 pounds of marijuana, but that the drugs were for personal use and that “he did not want to deliver the marijuana.” One of the officers estimated that high-grade marijuana can sell on the street for about $5,000 per pound, making the drugs in the van potentially worth up to $275,000.
Corona Medina was booked into Jackson County Jail on May 23 but bonded out a week later, according to jail officials.
The case, which is currently pending in Jackson Circuit Court, was delayed earlier this year before Corona Medina’s attorney asked to stop representing him.
In July, Poynter granted a request from Johnson to postpone a pre-trial conference and trial because, among other reasons, “plea negotiations are ongoing.”
Poynter pushed back a July 9 pre-trial conference until Oct. 25 and delayed Corona Medina’s trial from Nov. 19 to March 11, 2025, with the judge warning “failure to appear will result in a warrant being issued.”
