By DON FLETCHER
News Staff Writer
Three Pennsylvania residents and a North Carolina resident were arrested March 10 on numerous felony drug charges after Atmore police stopped a car for speeding.
According to police reports, the car was pulled over around 3:10 p.m. at Tom Byrne Park. As the vehicle came to a stop, an individual later identified as 21-year-old Edward Luther Lowe of Erie, Pa., jumped out and ran into a wooded area.
Lowe was carrying a bag with him that was recovered by police just inside the wood line. It contained three stolen handguns and an unspecified quantity of “a green, leafy substance that field-tested positive for marijuana.” Lowe was arrested a short time later in a nearby parking lot.
Additional officers arrived and converged on the car. Reports show that “due to the strong odor of marijuana coming from inside the vehicle,” the officers had all the occupants get out of the car so it could be searched.
The search yielded “a large plastic bag that contained an unspecified amount of a green, leafy substance that field-tested positive for marijuana.” It also yielded a scale, a marijuana grinder, a straw that contained a white crystal-like substance that field-tested positive for methamphetamine and aluminum foil that contained a brown residue that field-tested positive for heroin.
There was also a bag and a hypodermic needle, each containing a substance that field-tested positive for methamphetamine.
Lowe is charged with one count each of possession of a controlled substance (methamphetamine), second-degree receiving stolen property, unlawful possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, and attempting to elude police.
The other occupants — Alyssa Mancuso, 28, and Jahmal Arnold, 30, both also of Erie, and Samantha Little, 28, of Hendersonville, N.C. were also arrested.
Mancuso is charged with one count each of unlawful possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, first-degree possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia, along with two counts of possession of a controlled substance (meth and heroin).
Little and Arnold are each charged with possession of drug paraphernalia, first-degree possession of marijuana, and unlawful possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance.
All four suspects remained in the county jail early Tuesday, March 21.