'Naked photos' excuse backfires, leads to major meth bust during moped stop: police

A man was taken into custody after deputies reportedly discovered more than a dozen grams of crystal methamphetamine.

A traffic stop involving an unregistered moped led Palm Beach County deputies to seize methamphetamine and fentanyl Thursday, WPEC reported.

According to the outlet, deputies pulled over 39-year-old Michael Christopher Giannotti after spotting him swerving near traffic after dark on a moped with no headlights or taillights.

Giannotti told deputies his driver’s license had been suspended for years and that a person named Desmond had given him the moped about a year earlier, the station reported.

As deputies moved to arrest Giannotti on traffic-related violations, he tried to stop them from searching his backpack, claiming it held nude photos of himself, according to WPEC.

The backpack held no photos, WPEC reported. Deputies instead found a glasses case containing about 14 grams of crystal methamphetamine, a tube holding about 1 gram of fentanyl capsules, and drug paraphernalia.

Deputies also found a glass pipe in Giannotti’s pocket and noticed a blue coating on his tongue, which they believed matched recent methamphetamine use, per the report.

The arrest was briefly delayed when Giannotti’s dog, JoJo, turned aggressive toward deputies. WPEC reported that Giannotti waited on a nearby bench until his mother could take the dog.

Once JoJo was secured, deputies advised Giannotti of his rights, and he acknowledged knowing the drugs were in his backpack, according to WPEC.

Giannotti was arrested on the following charges, according to WPEC: