Two Atmore men were recently arrested in separate incidents for possession of synthetic marijuana after each openly admitted to county deputies that the controlled substance was his.
Broderick Edford Autrey Jr., 29, of a Carver Avenue address, was arrested July 29 after he reportedly tossed a package from a car in which he was a passenger after the vehicle was pulled over by a deputy for an unspecified traffic violation.
According to sheriff’s reports, Deputy Greg Forbes initiated the traffic stop around 8:21 p.m. as the vehicle was driven along Smith Dairy Road. As the deputy was preparing to leave his vehicle, he noticed the passenger, later identified as Autrey, throw “an orange-colored package out the passenger window.”
Forbes recovered the package, which contained “a green, leafy substance that appeared to be synthetic marijuana.” Reports show that Autrey, when questioned by the deputy, “admitted that he had been smoking Spice and became nervous” when the vehicle was pulled over.
He was charged with possession of a controlled substance and was released July 31 after a $5,000 bond was posted.
In a second incident that occurred August 2, 41-year-old Gary Dewayne Heathcock was arrested after Deputy Danny Lambert arrived at his Nichols Avenue home to serve divorce papers and spotted “a hand-rolled cigarette or cigar” on the front porch, next to where Heathcock was sitting.
The deputy noted that Hancock’s appearance indicated that “he may be under the influence” of some substance. The Atmore man reportedly “spontaneously replied that he had been smoking Spice.”
Heathcock, who was also the subject of a bond revocation on an unrelated charge and a citation for failure to appear in court, remained in the county jail on Tuesday, under a $10,000 bond on the drug charge.