By DON FLETCHER
News Staff Writer
Two recent traffic stops by Atmore police officers resulted in the arrests of three people, all from outside Atmore, on felony drug possession charges.
The first incident occurred around 11:25 p.m., February 13, after an Atmore Police Department patrol officer spotted a vehicle that was being “driven erratically” along East Horner Street.
According to police reports, while the officer was questioning the driver, 21-year-old Mark Boutwell of Little River, Boutwell handed over a bag containing a glass pipe and approximately 1.2 grams of a crystal-like substance that field-tested positive for methamphetamine.
A subsequent search of the vehicle turned up a plastic baggie that contained about three-quarters of a gram of a green, leafy substance that field-tested positive for marijuana.
Boutwell is charged with one count each of possession of a controlled substance, second-degree possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.
He was released from the Escambia County Detention Center February 15 after bond was posted on his behalf.
The second incident happened around 12:20 a.m., February 14, after a patrol officer spotted a vehicle that was being driven along South Presley Street without tag lights.
The officer reported that a “strong odor of marijuana” was coming from the car as he approached it. A subsequent search of the vehicle yielded a prescription bottle that contained hydrocodone pills prescribed to someone other than the driver — Jared Dean, 32, of Victorville, Cal. — or his passenger, Amanda Pitts, 42, of Foley.
Also discovered in the vehicle were a metal tray with a crystal-like residue on it, a glass tray that also had a crystal-like residue on it, and a plastic baggie that contained just over half a gram of a crystal-like substance. The substance in each case field-tested positive for methamphetamine.
Dean and Pitts are each charged with two counts of possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. Dean was released on bond from the Escambia County Detention Center February 15. Pitts was released on bond February 18.