A 68-year-old Sarnia man was arrested on drug charges early Sunday morning after an automated licence plate reader alerted officers to a vehicle with the wrong plates. The Sarnia Police Service stopped the driver on Maxwell Street in Sarnia, Ontario, at approximately 1:36 am on March 1, 2026.
During the stop of the black Acura, officers discovered 4.5 grams of cocaine and 50 Percocet pills in the front area of the car. Ronald Frlais was taken into custody and charged with two counts of possessing illegal drugs and one count of failing to follow his probation orders.
The arrest was made possible by specialized scanning cameras that automatically check licence plates against a list of vehicles involved in crimes or traffic violations. The local police department began using this equipment in 2022 after receiving a grant of more than $300,000 from the provincial government to outfit 10 patrol cars.
Police officials state that the technology is designed to help find suspects while protecting the privacy of the general public. Any licence plate information that does not match the police watch-list is automatically deleted from the system within 24 hours.
