By Russ Tarby

Contributing Writer

An alert deputy turned a routine traffic stop into a significant drug bust Dec. 13 in the town of Clay.

While on patrol shortly after 10 p.m. on Route 57 near Belmont Drive, Onondaga County Sheriff’s Deputy Kristen Mullen observed a Ford Five Hundred operating in violation of several state Vehicle and Traffic Laws. 

Mullen pulled over the car and, as she spoke with its two occupants, she smelled marijuana smoke coming from inside the vehicle. As the traffic stop progressed, the Ford’s driver sped off into a nearby apartment complex.

Deputies pursued the vehicle to the dead end of Grampian Road where the occupants were taken into custody. A search of the Ford revealed various amounts of illegal drugs, including cocaine, several packets of heroin and a small bag of marijuana, according to the Sheriff’s Office public information officer, Sgt. Jon Seeber.   

In addition to the drugs, more than $2,500 in cash was located along with a loaded Smith & Wesson 9mm handgun.

Deputies were assisted at the scene by members of the New York State Police. 

The driver, 22-year-old Diamond Jones and his 16-year-old male passenger, both of Liverpool, were charged with third, fourth and seventh degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, criminal possession of a weapon in the second and third degree and second degree unlawful possession of marijuana. 

On top of those six charges, Jones was issued several traffic tickets including a charge of third degree aggravated unlicensed operation. Jones was arraigned on Dec. 14 and bail was set at $50,000 cash or $100,000 bond. He was being held at the Corbett Justice Center.

The 16-year-old male was lodged at the Hillbrook Detention Facility and was expected to be arraigned Dec. 14.

Young man shot at Madison Village

The day after the arrests of Jones and the 16-year-old, a shooting at Madison Village mobile home park left a 19-year-old man wounded in the neck.

The Sheriff’s Office investigated the incident that occurred Monday evening, Dec. 14, outside a Madison Village residence in the town of Clay. Detectives made an arrest on Tuesday.

At approximately 9:30 p.m. Dec. 14, sheriff’s deputies responded to Upstate University Hospital where they met with a 19-year-old shooting victim. The man, a resident of Oswego County, sustained a single gunshot wound and is expected to survive.

When one of the men, a 19-year-old Oswego County resident, got into his car and starting driving away, he was shot in the neck, said Sgt. Jon Seeber. The victim told deputies that he knew the person he was fighting, but believed the shot came from a third person at the scene.

The next morning, Sheriff’s detectives arrested Robert Quinonez, 20, a resident of the Madison Village mobile home park. Deputies identified Quinonez as the third person on the scene who had fired the shot.

Quinonez was charged with second-degree assault, second-degree criminal possession of a weapon and second-degree criminal use of a firearm — all felonies. Neither the shooting victim nor the man he fought will face charges, Seeber said.

After his arraignment Dec. 15, Quinonez was being held in the Onondaga County Justice Center on $50,000 cash bail or $100,000 bond.

Over the course of this year, local law enforcement has seen a definite increase of car break-ins and vehicle thefts, primarily committed by teenagers.

“We have noticed an uptick in crime committed by juveniles,” Seeber said. “Recently we’ve seen an increase in stolen vehicles.”