GATESVILLE — A Brown County man was stopped Sept. 11 for having an expired license plates when police discovered a syringe in his vehicle.

At around 8 p.m., Brown County Sheriff’s Deputy Joshua Stargell was on patrol in the 4900 block of Hoover Road when he clocked a vehicle going 44 mph in a 40 mph zone, according to a probable cause affidavit.

He followed the vehicle, ran the license plate and learned that it had expired on July 7. He stopped it at the intersection of Sweetwater Trail and Lambert Hill Road.

The driver, Joseph E. Lambert, 37, of Lambert Hill Road, and his passenger were asked to exit the vehicle so a K9 officer could check for narcotics. Lambert told Deputy Wayne Robbins, who had arrived to assist, that a syringe would be found in the trunk area.

He told Robbins he had picked a woman up from Kentucky, that it was her syringe and she had planted it on him. He said he did not know the syringe was in there until a short time before the traffic stop and that he was going to dispose of it, the affidavit states.

A syringe was found in the trunk, but no other illegal items, the report said.

He was taken to the Brown County jail and charged Sept. 13 with unlawful possession of a syringe, a Level 6 felony.