Law enforcement makes drug trafficking bust at Budget Inn: Two arrested for meth, 'black tar' - Sedalia Democrat
Two arrested for meth, ‘black tar’
After months of investigative work, Pettis County Sheriff’s Office deputies and the Mid-Missouri Drug Task Force served a search warrant this week at a local business.
At 5:30 p.m. Thursday, the warrant was served for a permanent residence off the lobby of the Budget Inn, 4710 S. Limit Ave.
“We got some intelligence that inside the residence just off the lobby there were some sales of methamphetamine,” Pettis County Sheriff Brad Anders said Friday. “That Budget Inn has been a problem for years, and it's something that we're trying to address from an alternative perspective moving forward.”
Law enforcement is familiar with the Budget Inn and has served many warrants for individual rooms. Anders said this is the first time his office obtained a warrant for this residence.
“We served a search warrant, there were two individuals arrested there,” Anders said. “There were dozens of hypodermic needles, drug paraphernalia, bags used to indicate delivery, and digital scales to indicate delivery.”
Another item seized allowed for trafficking charges for the two occupants of the Budget Inn residence.
“A little over two ounces of methamphetamine,” said Anders.
A statement issued by Anders spells out the details.
“During the warrant service, over two ounces of methamphetamine were seized along with various paraphernalia items to include baggies, digital scale, hypodermic needles, and glass pipes with methamphetamine residue. There was also a small amount of brown, tar-like substance seized,” the statement read.
According to the statement, Trisha Brown and Jason Harvey, both of Sedalia, were taken into custody. Charges will be requested via Pettis County Prosecutor Phillip Sawyer for second-degree trafficking and possession of drug paraphernalia. Both subjects are being held on a 24-hour hold at the Pettis County Jail pending the filing of formal charges.
A trafficking charge attached to a suite within the motel may weigh heavily enough for the City to employ one of its latest crime deterrents, a notice of violation of the new public nuisance ordinance.
“It's to the point of being a public nuisance,” Anders said. “It's beyond the point of being a public nuisance.”
Businesses may now be shuttered if they are proven to be a recurring nexus for criminal activity, as in the Cash 4 Cores closure and the notice put recently on a local drug house after a raid found meth distribution.
“It's something that's going to have to be presented to the prosecutor,” Anders said. “We have been in meetings with the prosecutor to address not only that hotel, but other hotels that are in the county that likely should be deemed a public nuisance, and we're working out a plan moving forward to get that into play.”
As law enforcement busts one drug den another pops up to replace it. Now, armed with the Public Nuisance ordinance, law enforcement has the possibility of stopping problem businesses.
Anders knows these kinds of arrests take a long time to get drug houses closed and out of business for good. But getting a clean arrest is necessary for the charges to stick.
“It's a never-ending task,” Anders said. “There are so many places that are having the same problems and we're trying to get to them as fast as we can. These drug investigations sometimes take months to be able to build probable cause and get a search warrant. You want these cases to be solid, you don't want them to be able to attack your probable cause or your rationale for getting a search warrant and just be able to get right back out and start doing it again.”
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source: https://www.sedaliademocrat.com/stories/law-enforcement-makes-drug-trafficking-bust-at-budget-inn,31238
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