By DON FLETCHER
News Staff Writer
The same Escambia County deputy sheriff made drug arrests on successive nights last week, one as part of a traffic stop and one while investigating a trespassing complaint.
An ECSO spokesperson said October 31 that Deputy Sam Weeks arrested 29-year-old Waymon Paul Morrison of Frisco City while investigating an October 29 trespassing complaint in Atmore, and the next night took Michael Walston, 36, of Century, Fla. into custody after a traffic stop.
Sheriff’s reports show that the deputy was sent to a Blackwell Lane location in Atmore, where the homeowner reported that there was an unwanted person on the property.
Weeks spoke with a Poarch Creek Indians officer who had arrived earlier and was apprised of the situation. When the deputy questioned the trespassing suspect, Morrison reportedly volunteered that “there might be an eight-ball of meth” inside his vehicle, wrapped in a pink shirt.
After gaining consent to search the vehicle, the county lawman discovered “a clear, plastic bag that contained a crystalline substance.” A field test yielded a positive response for methamphetamine, and the Frisco City man was arrested.
Morrison was processed into the Escambia County Detention Center on a charge of possession of a controlled substance. He remained in jail this week with a $5,000 bond on the drug charge, but a hold placed on him by Drug Court officials has prevented his release.
Weeks was on patrol along Upper Creek Road the next night when he pulled over a vehicle that was reportedly speeding.
When he walked up to the vehicle to question the driver, the deputy reportedly “detected the odor of marijuana” and asked the driver, later identified as Walston, if there was “anything in his vehicle that was not supposed to be.” The Century man told the officer there wasn’t, then gave him consent to search the vehicle.
That’s when things turned bad for Walston. According to reports, as he stepped out of the vehicle, “a glass pipe fell out of his pants and fell onto the ground.” The suspect reportedly tried to step on the pipe and break it, but was unsuccessful.
No contraband was found inside the vehicle, but a pat-down turned up a “silver container with what appeared to be marijuana in it,” and Walston was arrested.
He was processed into the county jail, charged with one count each of second-degree possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was later released under a $3,000 bond.