Cocaine arrested on drug charge

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The judge did a double-take and there were giggles aplenty in bond court Wednesday when a bailiff announced the name of a man arrested for drug possession: Edward Cocaine.

“What?” uttered a stunned County Judge John “Jay” Hurley.

“My last name is Cocaine,” proudly stated the man at the podium.

“You know, I’d thought I’d seen it all,” Hurley laughed, shaking his head. “How many times have the police told you to step out of the car during your life?”

“Just about every time I get pulled over,” a chuckling Cocaine admitted.

The Fort Lauderdale man, 34, arrested Tuesday in Pembroke Pines, explained how he got his name. “My great-grandparents came over here from Greece and they changed it,” he said. “That was like in the 1920s.”

The judge remained nonplussed. “I’m still trying to absorb this,” he said.

But Hurley released Cocaine on his own recognizance. And the drug he’s accused of possessing? Xanax.