A routine traffic stop on the Adirondack Northway in Moreau this past July turned into a major cocaine bust, and the man behind the wheel has now pleaded guilty in Saratoga County Court. Lamar Franklin, 40, admitted to criminal possession of a controlled substance after police said they found more than 10 ounces of cocaine stashed inside snack-chip bags in his vehicle.
According to CBS6 Albany, Franklin was stopped on July 21 in the town of Moreau, and prosecutors said he had more than 10 ounces of cocaine with him on the Northway. Saratoga County Sheriff’s deputy Anthony Praga responded to the stop with his K-9 partner, Bush, who alerted officers to narcotics hidden inside the vehicle, leading to the discovery of the drugs concealed in chip bags. As reported by NEWS10 ABC, the Saratoga County District Attorney's Office said Franklin had traveled to New York City to obtain the cocaine before heading back upstate.
A Familiar Face to Narcotics Investigators
Prosecutors said Franklin is a repeat felony offender, with three prior felony convictions, two of them narcotics-related, per the station's report. The case was led by the New York State Police Community Stabilization Unit, a unit the Saratoga County District Attorney's Office described as dedicated to the proactive interdiction of narcotics and firearms trafficking across the region.
Franklin is expected to receive a determinate seven-year state prison sentence followed by two years of post-release supervision when he appears for sentencing on December 22, the same account notes. He pleaded guilty in Saratoga County Court, where the case was prosecuted after the July stop uncovered the drugs hidden among ordinary snack packaging.
Part of a Broader Pattern of Highway Interdictions
Franklin's case follows a similar one out of the same county just weeks earlier. Kenny Seales, 49, pleaded guilty to an entire indictment and was sentenced to eight years in prison in Saratoga County Court, with five years of post-release supervision, according to the Saratogian. That case, also led by the New York State Police Community Stabilization Unit, stemmed from a traffic stop in Malta in August 2025 that turned up nearly eight ounces of cocaine and just under one-half ounce of fentanyl. Prosecutors described Seales as a career narcotics trafficker with five prior felony convictions tied to drug trafficking.
The Community Stabilization Unit has also been active elsewhere in the state this year. The New York State Police reported that its Troop K Community Stabilization Unit made arrests after a September cocaine seizure during a traffic stop in Harrison, part of a string of highway interdictions this year that included a March stop on I-90 and seizures of heroin, cocaine, crack cocaine and fentanyl during separate stops on I-684.
Franklin's sentencing is set for December 22 in Saratoga County Court, where he faces the seven-year prison term and two years of post-release supervision that prosecutors say he is expected to receive.
