Man Taken for Medical Check After Reportedly Using Meth, Bath Salts

Oconee County Sheriff's deputies say a man acting strange Sunday at a local convenience store was taken for medical treatment after his friend told them the man had snorted methamphetamine and smoked some synthetic marijuana or bath salts.

When deputies arrived at the Golden Pantry at 5171 Macon Highway around 2 p.m., they say they found the man pacing at the rear of the store near the cooler, yelling about being followed by the "Mexican Mafia" and claiming someone had killed his twin sister.

Deputies asked the 35-year-old man from Surfside Beach, South Carolina to stop and sit on the floor, but report he "was paranoid and could not keep still."

A friend of the man was attempting to calm him down and offer him juice, but the man began accusing the friend of trying to poison him, according to the deputy's report.

Medical units arrived and began to assist the man and deputies questioned the friend.  At first the friend said the man had only taken Xanax, a drug prescribed to him, but later revealed the man had also snorted methamphetamine and smoked some synthetic marijuana or "bath salts," according to the incident report.

The man consented to a vehicle search before being taken to hospital, deputies said, but no evidence was found.

Chief Deputy Lee Weems said Monday no charges have been filed. 

"I don't know whether there will be any charges. It's something we'll have to look at as [the investigation] continues," he said. "At that point in time [the man's] medical condition was more of a concern than any kind of criminal charge that needed to be filed.  The case was assigned today and we'll follow up on it."

Weems said investigators would have to subpoena the man's medical records in order to determine whether he had taken any of the drugs.  But he said the man's "dramatically irrational behavior" is consistent with other reports where synthetic marijuana or bath salts were found to have been consumed.

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