Cheese responsible for man's cocaine charge jailing

A favourite food of millions may have been the culprit in false drug-test results that led to a California man's jailing on cocaine charges. The Buncombe County Sheriff's Office said on Friday an enzyme present in cheese and possibly some types of dough appeared to have yielded false results that led to cocaine charges against Antonio Hernandez Carranza.

Hernandez spent four days in the Buncombe County jail until state lab results showed the substances in the back of his truck were tortilla dough, cheese and other food. Buncombe Sheriff Van Duncan and Lt. Randy Sorrells said they only recently learned how the common food can fool drug tests.



Positive tests are considered probable cause and can be used to bring charges and jail suspects under high bonds, effectively keeping them imprisoned. Along with revealing the test flaw, police are also now saying they will reimburse Hernandez for $400 in food taken following his May 1 arrest.

The sheriff said officials are trying to speak with the president of the company of at least one of the test manufacturers. “What we are going to do now is check with the manufacturers and find out what they have found can cause false positives and put that into the training with our officers,” Duncan said.