Couple spend month in prison for possession of homemade soap

A couple who were jailed for one month for possession of cocaine despite insisting to police officers that two white 'bricks' in their car were nothing but homemade soap, have been freed from prison.

The trouble started for Annadel Cruz, 26, and Alexander Bernstein, 30, when they were pulled over by Leigh County police in Pennsylvania for driving five miles over the speed limit.

According to police at the Fogelsville station, the state trooper who pulled the pair over reported smelling marijuana in the car and requested to search the vehicle.

Though Cruz admitted to authorities that she had been smoking weed, she consented to a search of her Mercedes Benz adamant there were no drugs in her possession.

Despite this, state troopers discovered a plastic bag with two kilogram-sized packages wrapped in plastic and sealed with red tape inside the vehicle's trunk.

According to court documents, Cruz told police she was only transporting soaps she had made, but preliminary field tests proved the white 'bricks' were cocaine.

The pair were arrested and charged with possession with intent to deliver cocaine, possession of cocaine, conspiracy and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Cruz was also charged with possession of a small amount of marijuana and traffic violations.

Both Cruz and Bernstein were jailed for almost a month until this week, when the Leigh District Attorney's office dropped all charges following a state police lab test proving the packages were in fact just soap.

Attorney's for the pair are blaming racial profiling and inaccurate police testing for the embarrassing mix-up.

“I think it is a nice car with out-of-state plates and a Hispanic female behind the wheel," said Josh Karoly, an attorney for Bernstein.

“If it was me driving that car, this wouldn’t have happened.”

“A young man spent a month in jail, spent a substantial amount of money to get out of jail and missed Thanksgiving with his 17-month-old son,” Karoly said.

“To do that on a field test, we better be darn sure that these field tests are accurate.”

Cruz, a college student with no prior criminal record, is reportedly upset at the damage to hr reputation caused by the ordeal.

“Her name is all over the place, making light of her defense that she was just transporting soap,” her attorney Robert Goldman said.

“She was labeled online as a drug dealer, she was incarcerated with people who do commit crimes. It’s going to take her a good deal of time to get her good name back.”