Hopatcong Driver Needing a Tow Finds Bigger Trouble

A 25-year-old Lake Hopatcong woman faces drug charges after running into car trouble Wednesday morning.

The said officers patrolling Littleton Road just after 10 a.m. noticed a vehicle sitting in the roadway with its hazard lights flashing. Pulling over to assess the situation, the officers met the driver, Lauren Spero, who asked them to help her find a tow truck. 

Instead, Officers Matthew LaManna and Joseph Kornas found that Spero's vehicle was uninsured, police said. And according to a department spokesperson, the officers also found a host of illegal items inside the vehicle, including glass pipes commonly used to smoke crack cocaine, two hypodermic syringes and four “druggist folds,” specially folded pieces of paper often used as containers for illegal powdered substances.

Police said the suspect also had an active $165 traffic warrant out of West Orange. 

Spero was issued summonses for possession of drug paraphernalia and, per an order of the West Orange Police Department, was released on her own recognizance pending a court date.

For more information on this blotter, contact natalie.davis@patch.com.