Expired tag leads to discovery of pot, coke, Ecstasy
By DON FLETCHER
News Staff Writer
An Atmore man was arrested November 17 on numerous charges after an Atmore Police Department traffic stop and subsequent search of his vehicle turned up marijuana, crack cocaine, powder cocaine and Ecstasy.
APD Sgt. Darrell McMann reported that the traffic stop was conducted around 6:05 p.m., after an officer spotted a vehicle with a tag that was not only expired but registered to another vehicle.
The officer approached the vehicle and while talking with the driver, 36-year-old Mahkail Quardaryl Reynolds, the officer detected “a strong odor of marijuana” coming from the vehicle.
A probable cause search of the vehicle yielded an assortment of illegal substances, including 15.2 grams of marijuana, 12.2 grams of crack cocaine, 2.7 grams of powder cocaine and 1.3 grams of MDMA. A digital scale was also recovered.
Reynolds is charged with two counts of possession of a controlled substance (powder cocaine and MDMA, or Ecstasy), and one count each of possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine, first-degree possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.
The Atmore man is also charged with violation of the open container law and driving while his license is revoked or suspended. He was booked into the Escambia County Detention Center (ECDC), where he remained early Tuesday, November 21.
In other felony arrests of Atmore residents during the period November 13-20:
*City police arrested Mandy Hodges Lassitter, 44, November 17 on a felony drug possession charge after she was found to be in possession of an unspecified quantity of methamphetamine.
Lassitter remained in the ECDC early Tuesday, November 21. No other details were immediately available.
*Escambia County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested 59-year-old Luther Ron Longmire November 19 on a felony weapons charge.
No details were provided, but the county jail’s website shows Longmire is charged with possession of a pistol by a violent felon.
He was still behind bars early Tuesday, November 21.