A Ceres man who was found with drugs in his shoe after he fled from an injury hit-and-run crash was arrested on Monday, March 22.

Nathaniel Stetson, 19, of Ceres was a passenger in a 2005 Mercedes driven by 20-year-old Oakdale resident Albert Roman III. Also in the car was a 16-year-old Oakdale girl. Roman reportedly was speeding northbound on Chicken Ranch Road at around 4 p.m. just north of Chicken Ranch Casino. When he tried to move to the right of a slower moving car in front of him, Roman lost control and his car went up an embankment, causing the Mercedes to roll over and onto the other car. Richard Alvarez, 69, of Modesto, the driver of a 2001 Mercedes, was slightly injured when his car was damaged. All three occupants of the responsible vehicle fled on foot but were later apprehended by the California Highway Patrol.

Stetson was being booked into the Tuolumne County Jail in Sonora on charges of delaying a police officer when custodial staff found a concealed clear plastic baggy containing possible crystal methamphetamine tucked in his shoe. He now faces an additional charge of bringing contraband into a jail.

The investigating CHP officer did not believe drugs or alcohol were a factor in the crash.