A Nesquehoning man faces multiple drug charges after a traffic stop on a wrong way driver in Lansford Jan. 18.

Salvatore Canzoneri, 37, of East Railroad Street, was the passenger in the vehicle stopped for headed the wrong way on Tunnel Street.

Officers observed Canzoneri moving around near the door and floorboard, asked him to exit the vehicle and saw him drop an open knife on the floorboard, arrest papers said.

Canzoneri was slow to exit the vehicle, and he reached toward a cigarette container on the passenger side floorboard, and he was told to refrain from doing so, court papers said.

Officers asked if there were any other weapons in the vehicle, and Canzoneri said no. The driver gave the officers consent to search the vehicle.

Officers secured the dropped knife and found wax baggies labeled “I’ll Be Back” with a white powdered substance inside the cigarette container Canzoneri had been trying to reach, court papers said.

Officers also located three more small bags with a white powdered substance, and small pink vial pushed down in between the front passenger side door and the floorboard with a white rock-like substance, court papers said.

Officers also found another small bag while searching the driver’s side floorboard and a small burned aluminum foil wrap.

Canzoneri was secured inside a patrol vehicle, and officers observed him moving around inside, dipping his shoulder and moving toward the floor of the vehicle, court papers said.

Officers found Canzoneri moved his restraints in front of him, and shifted to the other side of the patrol vehicle, court papers said. Officers found a small brown pouch on the floor.

Inside the pouch, officers found an additional 30 bags of with a white powdered substance, more pink vials with rock-like substance, two glass pipes with burned ends, a straw, a small vial with a blue powdered substance, a razor blade with powdered substance, and a small amount of “Char-Boy.”

Officers also found three more blue wax bags with a powdered substance under the seat.

The patrol vehicle had been inspected before the start of the shift, and there was nothing under the rear seat. Officers also found a piece of ripped QR code that matched the QR code on the cigarette container officers retrieved, court papers said.

Canzoneri was charged with possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, two counts of tampering with physical evidence, five counts of possession of a controlled substance, and five counts of possession of a drug paraphernalia.

He was lodged in the Carbon County Correctional Facility in Nesquehoning in lieu of $10,000 bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled Jan. 29.

In 2022, Canzoneri was sentenced to 30 to 60 months in state prison in seven criminal cases in Carbon County. He pleaded guilty to these charges in those cases: possession of a controlled substance, flight to avoid apprehension, unsworn falsification to authorities, simple assault, possession of drug paraphernalia and criminal use of a communication device.