Officers Find Cash & Cocaine Hidden Under Belly Of Inmate Booked in Tuscaloosa Jail

A Tuscaloosa man being arrested last week saw one charge against him grow into five after detention officers allegedly found cocaine, marijuana and more than $6,000 cash hidden "underneath the fat rolls of his stomach" when he was being booked in the county jail.

According to court records filed Monday, a Tuscaloosa Police Officer pulled over 47-year-old Rodney Bernard Hinton last Thursday. The charging documents do not cite the reason for the traffic stop.

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The officer searched Hinton's vehicle and reportedly found a digital scale covered with a white powder residue that police believed to be cocaine.

Hinton was arrested and transported to the Tuscaloosa County Jail on one count of possession of drug paraphernalia and was searched as a routine part of the booking process.

Detention found more than they bargained for, according to the deposition.

"Once inside the booking area at the jail, officers discovered that the defendant had hidden an amount of cocaine powder/crack cocaine (90 grams), marijuana (28 grams) and $6,207 in assorted U.S. currency underneath the fat rolls of his stomach," investigators said in the document.

The seized drugs were tested and found to be controlled substances. Hinton found himself facing four new charges -- trafficking cocaine, first-degree possession of marijuana, failure to affix a tax stamp and promoting prison contraband, since the drugs were on the way into the jail facility when they were discovered.

Hinton was booked on all five charges and remained in the Tuscaloosa County Jail Monday on a bond totaling $1,040,000.

For more exclusive reporting on crime and courts in the region, stay connected to the Tuscaloosa Thread.