Cops said they found half a pound of meth in his car. It turned out to be kitty litter.

When deputies from the Harris County Sheriff’s Office pulled Ross Alexander LeBeau over during a traffic stop in December, they found a bag of suspected meth in his car and promptly arrested him.

But LeBeau, 24, is now seeking an apology from the Texas deputies: The “meth” they discovered was in fact kitty litter that his father gave him to help stop his car windows from getting foggy.

LeBeau was driving Dec. 5 along Pebble Lane Drive in his 2006 Acura when deputies spotted him making a right turn without using his blinkers, the sheriff’s office said at the time. The deputies pulled him over and noticed the smell of marijuana, prompting LeBeau to hand over a small bag of the substance he had in his car. But while searching the rest of LeBeau’s vehicle, the deputies found something else: a bag of small yellow and blue nuggets, which two field tests indicated was methamphetamine.

Despite denying he knew anything about the meth, LeBeau was arrested, charged with possession and booked into jail. Though he posted bail and was released, he told KTRK later that he lost his job after the arrest. A press release posted to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page — which has since been deleted — took credit for the “significant narcotics arrest in our community.”

The arrest “may have kept our children and loved ones free from being introduced to drugs,” the now-deleted post read.

But the case unraveled when another test at the Institute of Forensic Science discovered the actual nature of the suspected contraband. The case was dismissed Jan. 4, and LeBeau said he now wants to clear his name.

“People have been calling me a kingpin or a drug lord,” LeBeau told the television station. “They thought they had the biggest bust in Harris County. This was the bust of the year for them.”

In a statement, the Harris County Sheriff’s office defended the deputies, who “followed basic procedures and followed established protocol related to this incident.”

This story was originally published January 10, 2017 at 9:42 AM with the headline "Cops said they found half a pound of meth in his car. It turned out to be kitty litter.."