Deputies from the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office arrested a 25-year-old Lexington Park man on drug charges following a traffic stop on October 8, 2025, after a license plate reader flagged mismatched registration plates on his vehicle. Tre Matthew Fear faces charges of possession of controlled dangerous substance cocaine and two counts of possession with intent to use drug paraphernalia. He remains held without bond at the St. Mary’s County Detention and Rehabilitation Center in Leonardtown.
The incident occurred around 8:50 p.m. during proactive patrols in Lexington Park. Deputies spotted a Mazda B3000 pickup displaying historic tags and received an alert from a license plate reader indicating a Maryland Vehicle Administration pickup order, with the plates registered to a Jaguar. They stopped the truck for displaying registration plates belonging to another vehicle. Upon identifying the driver as Fear, deputies discovered an active arrest warrant.
A search of Fear revealed suspected drug paraphernalia and a clear, tied-off plastic bag containing about 7.8 grams of suspected cocaine. A vehicle search uncovered a digital scale with white powder residue and additional suspected paraphernalia. Fear was transported to the detention center for processing.
Under Maryland law, cocaine is classified as a Schedule II controlled dangerous substance, carrying penalties for possession that can include up to four years in prison and fines up to $25,000 for a first offense. Possession of paraphernalia with intent to use can result in up to one year incarceration and fines up to $500 per count. These charges fall under Maryland Criminal Law Article Section 5-601, which prohibits possessing or administering controlled dangerous substances unless authorized by prescription. Courts may consider factors such as prior convictions and quantity in sentencing, with options for drug education or treatment programs for eligible offenders who have no violent crime history or prior drug convictions.
License plate readers, or LPRs, are automated cameras that scan vehicle plates and compare them against databases for alerts on stolen vehicles, warrants or registration issues. In St. Mary’s County, the sheriff’s office uses LPRs as part of routine patrols to enhance traffic enforcement and investigations.
Similar systems in neighboring Southern Maryland counties, such as Calvert, have been deployed since 2017 to capture plate data on major routes like Route 4, aiding in crime resolution. Data from these devices is stored briefly and used only for law enforcement purposes, with policies prohibiting bias-based profiling.
