Michael Browning

A 51-year-old New Orleans man is free on bond after being stopped while driving south on Interstate 75, smoking marijuana and carrying $135,000 in cash as his 4-year-old grandson slept in the back seat, police say.

Gregory Harris was arrested about 3 a.m. Thursday and released the same afternoon after being booked into the Bradley County Jail on charges of drug paraphernalia and marijuana possession. Mr. Harris was released after paying a $5,500 bond, Bradley County Sheriff’s spokesman Bob Gault said.

Mr. Harris was reported driving a green 2004 Jeep Liberty erratically on the interstate in McMinn County. Tennessee Highway Patrol Trooper John Allen got a call from dispatch and soon spotted the car, according to Michael Browning, spokesman for the Tennessee Department of Safety, which houses the state highway patrol.

Trooper Allen “detected the smell of burnt marijuana.” Mr. Harris admitted he’d been smoking the drug, Mr. Browning said. At the time of the stop his 4-year-old grandson was asleep, unrestrained in the back seat, Mr. Browning said.

Bradley County Sheriff ’s deputies and a THP sergeant arrived. Trooper Allen searched the SUV with his K-9 drug dog, Allie, and found 2 ounces of marijuana, burned joints and $135,504 cash along with some prescription pills, Mr. Browning said.

The child was turned over to the officials with the Tennessee Department of Human Services, Mr. Browning said.