‘Nervous’ suspect arrested, nearly pees his pants

When police asked Robert Pennazoli early Saturday morning if he carried anything illegal, he said he might urinate in his pants.

“Because I’m nervous,” Pennazoli told Coeur d’Alene Police Officer Eric Boardman.

Then he told officers he may have something in his boots.

That is where police found a quarter ounce of methamphetamine in plastic baggies, according to a police report.

Pennazoli, 58, is in the Kootenai County jail facing charges of criminal conspiracy and possession of drugs with intent to deliver.

Police passed a black Chevy Tahoe after midnight that failed to stop at a stop sign while entering west Appleway Avenue. Police said the Tahoe’s exhaust was making a racket and stopped the car as it began to head east on Interstate 90. The Tahoe had an expired tag and the driver, Martin Morris, was on felony probation.

As police checked the men’s identification, the men inside the car squirmed as if they were attempting to hide something, or retrieving a weapon, police said. Both men had criminal records and Martin had police safety alerts for violence and guns.

Police had the men step outside and Pennazoli, the passenger, said he was nervous. He spilled an energy drink on the police car’s hood, began breathing heavily and said he may urinate himself, according to a police report.

“It appeared Robert had difficulty with basic motor function,” Boardman wrote in his report.

Pennazoli carried a bundle of plastic baggies in his shirt pocket marked with denominations that he said were for polished rocks he sells as jewelry.

When officers asked if he had anything that might be illegal he told them, “Not that I can think of, unless it’s in my boots.”

Police asked what he meant.

Pennazoli said he might have some “shanks,” or “spurs,” that were sticking his feet.

When police lifted his pant leg, he trembled, according to a report, and officers fished bags of methamphetamine from boots that were so loose “to the point of barely staying on,” according to a police report.

He said he bought the meth from a prostitute and that he had ingested a Tylenol that may have been laced with methamphetamine.

Police accused him of dealing drugs, and Pennazoli said “it looks like it,” according to Boardman’s report.

Pennazoli will have a probable cause hearing within two weeks in Coeur d’Alene’s First District Court. Possession with intent to deliver can carry up to a life prison term and a $25,000 fine.