Police: Crack pipes hidden inside mitten

Police found drug paraphernalia early Friday hidden inside a mitten in a car that was to be towed.

Dayton officers pulled over a red 1992 two-door Chrysler at 12:36 a.m. for a routine traffic stop along Dennison Street. The driver, identified as Charlene A. Payne, 45, of Dayton, did not have a driver's license and had a bench warrant for her arrest, according to a Dayton police report.

An officer reported he could see what appeared to be a crack pipe inside a thick black mitton on the front passenger side of the car. Inside the mitten, the officer stated he pulled out three more crack pipes in plastic baggies containing stamp-size plastic pouches and burnt pieces of a scouring pad, the report stated.

Payne told police "it had been a while" since she had last smoked crack, but said the drug use was her way of dealing with depression after her husband left her.

She was booked into the Montgomery County Jail on suspicion of falsification and is scheduled to appear Monday in court, online jail records show. She also has a second court date on Tuesday morning on a prior misdemeanor charge, records show.

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