Marijuana aroma
leads to meth charge
A traffic stop resulted in a drug possession charge for an Andrews woman who was driving in Clay County without a headlight.
At around 1:17 a.m. Tuesday, April 4 Clay County Sheriff’s Officer Steven Smith stopped a car, driven by Dorothy Maria Aman, 65, near Settawig Road on U.S. Hwy. 64 in Brasstown. Her headlight was not working, according to a press release from the sheriff’s office.
While asking for Aman’s driver’s license, Smith smelled the odor of marijuana coming from her car. When he returned to his patrol car to check the status of Aman and her car, Officer Cory Scroggs arrived to assist.
Scroggs asked Aman about the marijuana odor at which time she handed him a plastic baggy containing a small amount of suspected marijuana. Aman told the officers it was in fact marijuana, according to Sheriff Mark Buchanan. When asked if there was anything else illegal in her car, Aman responded that there was a meth pipe in her purse.
A search of the car yielded a glass case containing a glass smoking device and a small plastic baggy containing a white crystalline substance. In additioin, a plastic container was found with 8 ml of a liquid that field tested positive for methamphetamine. An unlabeled pill bottle containing one unit of Hydrocodone, a schedule II controlled substance, and another unlabeled pill bottle containing one unit of Lorazepam, a schedule IV controlled substance, was also found within the car.
Aman was arrested and charged with felony possession of methamphetamine, possession of a schedule II controlled substance, possession of a sch IV controlled substance, and failure to operate a vehicle with two operational headlights. She was given a $7,000 bond.
Woman accused of drinking at courthouse
A woman who had apparently left the county Clerk of Court’s office intoxicated was soonstopped by a Clay County Sheriff’s officer and a search of her vehicle led to multiple charges, according to a release from the sheriff’s office.
At 9 a.m. Tuesday, March 28 Sheriff Mark Buchanan said Clay County Corporal Will Suggs received a report of an intoxicated woman leaving the Clerk of Courts Office in Hayesville who was reported to be driving a black BMW.
A specific license plate number for the car was reported to Suggs who soon began following it. Once on U.S. 64, Suggs noted the driver making multiple sudden movements and was reportedly failing to maintain a lane of travel.
The driver, Sarah Elizabeth Esler, 34, of Marble, N.C., was stopped and smelled of alcohol, according to the release. She admitted to drinking and had two open containers of alcohol in her car. Her driver’s license had also been revoked. Esler was removed from her car and placed under arrest.
A search of the BMW by investigator Ethan Henderson yielded a glass smoking pipe and a small bag containing a crystal-like substance that field tested positive for methamphetamine, according to Buchanan.
Esler was charged with felony possession of methamphetamine, possession of drug paraphernalia, driving while license revoked, failing to maintain a lane of travel, and having an open container within a vehicle. She was given a $2,500 secured bond.