MURFREESBORO – A Murfreesboro man, Walter L. Lassiter, 25, was arrested while in the act of selling marijuana Thursday, police here allege.

According to Murfreesboro Police Chief Darrell Rowe, Lassiter was charged with possession with intent to sell and deliver marijuana and with possession of drug paraphernalia after Capt. Chris Sumner and Lt. Joe Burgess, both of the Murfreesboro Police Department, approached him about 9:45 a.m. on the porch of a house on Vance Street in Murfreesboro and “smelled a strong odor of marijuana.”

The officers were investigating another case at the time, Rowe said.

“After speaking with him and patting him down,” the officers, Rowe said, “retrieved two large and four small bags of marijuana totaling approximately 68 grams.”

Rowe said digital scales and plastic baggies, allegedly used to package marijuana, were also seized, as was an amount of U.S. currency.

Lassiter, who Rowe said lives on Beechwood Blvd in Murfreesboro, was arrested without incident and transported first to the Murfreesboro Police Department, then to Ahoskie where he appeared before a magistrate who set bond at $50,000.

He then was transported to the Hertford County Jail where he remained Thursday afternoon.

“I want to praise the officers for heads-up police work and for their quick thinking in order to bring this case to a quick conclusion,” Rowe said Thursday afternoon.