A routine traffic stop yesterday in Independence County turned into a stop involving three felony drug violations.
On Sunday evening, Independence County Sheriff’s Deputy Johnny Byler observed a man identified as Paul Curtis King, 47, of Jamestown Loop in Floral, driving on Newport Road not wearing a seat belt, according to the incident report.
Byler noted in the report that as he approached the vehicle, he observed King leaning forward in his vehicle, being suspicious. After King exited the vehicle at Byler’s request, King told the deputy he did not use drugs. Byler reported as he was listening to King speak, he observed a plastic baggie in King’s mouth. King was commanded to “spit out” the baggie, and he did so, the report noted.
Byler said the little substance left in the baggie tested positive for methamphetamine. A search of the vehicle also turned up a glass smoking device under the driver’s seat and a hypodermic syringe under the driver’s door of the vehicle, according to the report.
An empty plastic baggie was also found by the deputy lying on the vehicle’s floorboard. Next to the baggie was “a pile of a crystalline substance” that also tested positive as meth, the incident report said.
King was taken to jail and charged with: felony possession of meth; felony possession of drug paraphernalia; tampering with evidence in a felony investigation; and not using a seat belt.
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