By DON FLETCHER
News Staff Writer
Local police confirmed this week that a 34-year-old Atmore woman was arrested February 11 and charged with possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute.
Cynthia Merie Craig was taken into custody by officers of the Atmore Police Department’s anti-drug unit, who executed a search warrant at her residence in a U.S. 31 mobile home park.
An APD source reported that drug cops found 8.2 grams of meth inside Craig’s home. Any amount from 8-28 grams constitutes possession with intent. Possession of any amount above 28 grams is considered trafficking.
Police also discovered a set of digital scales in her home, prompting addition of a misdemeanor charge of possession of drug paraphernalia.
She was released from the Escambia County Detention Center after bond was posted on February 16.
Pot at the park
Ladre’ Tyrell Lawson, 23, of Atmore was arrested February 19 after an APD patrol officer spotted Lawson’s car alone in the parking lot of Houston Avery Park, after the recreational green space had closed for the night.
Reports show that the officer noted a “strong odor of marijuana” coming from the 2008 Chrysler Sebring, which was the only vehicle left in the parking area, as he approached it. A search yielded an undisclosed quantity of the illegal weed, along with a set of digital scales and a 9-mm Smith & Wesson handgun.
Lawson is charged with one count each of first-degree possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia and illegal carrying of a concealed weapon. He was released from jail February 26, after bond was posted.
In Alabama, a person commits the crime of first-degree marijuana possession if he or she possesses marijuana “for other than personal use,” or if he or she possesses marijuana “for his or her personal use only” after having been previously convicted of unlawful possession of marijuana in the second degree.
First-degree possession of pot is a Class C felony, and a conviction could lead to a sentence range of 1 year and 1 day, to 10 years.
Asleep at the wheel
A parked car was the site of the next felony bust by local police, too.
Allen Dale Garvin, 60, of Atmore was arrested after someone called 911 to report that he was slumped over the steering wheel of his vehicle, which was parked along U.S. 31, at Atmore Electrical Supply.
According to police reports, the officer noted that Garvin’s breathing was “labored,” and asked him to step out of his vehicle. When Garvin did so, he dropped a pipe that had a substance on it that tested positive for methamphetamine.
Garvin is charged with one count each of possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was released from jail on bond February 25.
No details
Details of the arrest remain few and far between, but the Escambia County Detention Center’s website indicates that another Atmore man, 26-year-old Clyde James Green, was also arrested — most likely by sheriff’s deputies — on a felony drug charge over the past week.
The jail site shows that Green was arrested February 24 and charged with one count each of possession of a controlled substance, second-degree possession of marijuana and illegal carrying of a concealed weapon.
He was released February 25, after bond was posted.