Crime & Safety
Alleged Drug Deal at New Oconee RaceTrac Leads to Meth Charges
Oconee County Sheriff's deputies last week investigated a report of a drug deal in the parking lot of the convenience store on Monroe Highway. An arrest does not mean a conviction.
A resident of McNutt Creek Road is facing charges of possession of methamphetamine and intent to distribute the drug.
Oconee County Sheriff's deputies were dispatched to RaceTrac on Monroe Highway around 9:15 p.m. on Oct. 17 to investigate a possible drug transaction, according to an incident report. An anonymous caller had provided a dispatcher with the description and tag number of a black Datsun truck and reported having seen a plastic bag trade hands, the report noted.
The truck's tag was checked and it had no valid insurance. One of the deputies reports he spotted the truck in the RaceTrac parking lot, but lost contact with it as he turned his patrol vehicle around. The tag was registered to an address on McNutt Creek Road, so the deputy headed in that direction, saw the truck turning into a driveway on the road, and made a traffic stop, according to the incident report.
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The driver was unable to provide the deputy with a valid insurance card, according to the report, so he was given permission to exit the truck and use his cell phone to call his wife to bring an insurance card to the scene.
When the man exited the truck, the deputy asked to pat the man down to check for weapons. During the pat down, the deputy says he found a large plastic bag in the man's front pocket containing smaller bags and rolling papers. The man declined a vehicle search without a warrant. His wife arrived with an insurance card, but it had an August expiration date and the man was arrested on that charge, the deputy said.
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Deputies used a narcotics-certified canine to conduct a "free air" search on the truck and there "was a positive alert on the motor vehicle," according to the report. Deputies next searched the truck and say they found a cigarette pack containing two clear plastic bags with a crystal-like substance that field tested positive for methamphetamine. Also found in the center console was a digital scale and two glass smoking devices, they said.
Jeff Carl Baker, 35, was charged with possession of methamphetamine, possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute and no insurance.
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