Car tag bought off Amazon leads to traffic stop, arrest: Police

CLEARWATER, Fla. - A routine traffic stop turned into something much more over the weekend in Clearwater.

The backstory:

According to the arrest report, Officer Christian Rodriquez saw the driver of a Lexus go through a stop sign on Gulf Boulevard.

That's when Rodriguez got behind the vehicle and ran its plates. Rodriguez wrote in the report that the driver "did have a vehicle tag from the Morocco Kingdom" on it. Unable to process such a tag, the officer initiated a traffic stop.

The driver either could not, or would not, produce registration information on the vehicle, and he could only produce a Georgia identification card. 

A VIN (vehicle identification number) search did not produce any registration information on the vehicle, and the driver joked about buying the license plate from Amazon.

OTHER NEWS: How much rain will the Tampa Bay area get this week? Here's a look

With probable cause for vehicle title fraud, the driver was taken into custody and given a Miranda warning. He then claimed that he was "joking" about the Amazon purchase and claimed to be a Sovereign Citizen who was a traveler, not a driver, according to the affidavit.

A search of the vehicle yielded approximately 1.5 grams of methamphetamine. The search also uncovered three firearms in the vehicle along with ammunition.

The driver, Hasan Ali Goodbee, was arrested and charged with operating an unregistered vehicle, auto title fraud, possession of methamphetamine, and possession of a firearm during commission of a felony.

What's next:

Goodbee made his first appearance in court on Sunday. His bond was set at $17,150. He has a previous arrest in Pinellas County for an invalid driver’s license. That case is still open in the court system.