Deputy finds drugs during Putnam County traffic stop

Yahoo

4 days ago

PUTNAM COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) — A Kentucky man accused of driving recklessly past a Putnam County deputy was taken into custody earlier this month for drug charges.
The Putnam County Sheriff's Office said Deputy James Hensel was helping a motorist on May 17 when he saw a Dodge Ram driving at a high rate of speed and 'making an erratic and unsafe lane change' near the Interstate 40 exit on Highway 111.
According to an affidavit, right after the vehicle passed Hensel, two separate motorists spotted the law enforcement officer, pulled off the road behind his patrol car, and reported the pickup truck driving wildly,
After he was cleared to pursue the Dodge, Hensel jumped in his patrol car, caught up to the truck, and performed a traffic stop, per the court document.
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When the deputy interacted with the driver — identified by officials as 42-year-old Ronald Allen Roper of Glasgow, Kentucky — Hensel reportedly noticed signs of possible impairment, including slow speech and the inability to concentrate or answer questions in a coherent manner.
After instructing Roper to exit the truck and move to the front of the patrol car, the deputy asked the driver if he had anything illegal in his possession, but Roper said 'he did not know,' per the affidavit.
According to authorities, when Hensel patted Roper down and asked him to empty his pockets, an uncapped and loaded syringe fell on the ground next to him.
Body camera footage shows Roper trying to pick up the needle and the deputy ordering him to stop and leave it alone.
'When I questioned Mr. Roper he said that the clear substance in the syringe was 'speed,'' Hensel stated in the court document.
Officials said a search of Roper's truck uncovered another syringe containing a clear liquid, a digital scale, and approximately 23.75 grams of a white crystal-like substance in a clear plastic bag.
The Glasgow man was arrested and charged with felony manufacture, delivery, and sale of methamphetamine, along with misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia, authorities reported.
'It was uncapped, so that's obviously an officer safety issue, but inside that syringe was methamphetamine, so there was more going on than just erratic driving. Clearly this guy was transporting methamphetamine and driving with a loaded syringe. Clearly you only have that syringe loaded to inject into your body, so no telling what would've happened had he injected that syringe into his person,' Putnam County Maj. Brandon Tayes said. 'Even though he was from Kentucky, he was clearly visiting our area of the state, bringing that type of criminal conduct to our area. Any time we can get somebody off the streets and put in our jail that's doing that type of behavior is a good thing for all the citizens of our community.'
The sheriff's office announced on Wednesday, May 21 that Roper was being held in the Putnam County Jail on a $61,500 bond, adding that he was scheduled to appear in court that day. As of Wednesday, May 28, Roper is still behind bars, according to jail records.
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