Traffic stop for headlights leads to felony drug charges
A Brown County woman is facing felony drug charges after she was stopped for a malfunctioning headlights.
On May 3, Nashville Officer Cody Poynter was traveling north on Van Buren Street when he saw a vehicle driving south with only one headlight. Poynter stopped the driver, Beth Hayworth, 61, of Oak Ridge Road. There were three other occupants in the vehicle.
He asked Hayworth if there was anything illegal in the vehicle to which she reportedly said, “Not that I know of.” She consented to a vehicle search. Deputy Austin Schonfeld arrived with his K-9 partner, which gave a positive alert for the presence of narcotics. Each occupant exited the vehicle and was searched. Nothing was found on them. Schonfeld found a purse belonging to Hayworth in the vehicle that contained cotton balls, a scale, Q-tips and syringes. One of the syringes was suspected to contain heroin, the police report said.
Hayworth told police that she had found the drugs and was going to throw them away. When asked where she found them, Hayworth told police they were hers and that she bought them in Indianapolis.
Hayworth was placed under arrest for possession of a narcotic drug and unlawful possession of a syringe, both Level 6 felonies, and a Class C misdemeanor for possession of paraphernalia.
Man arrested for resisting arrest after incident
A Kentucky man has been charged with misdemeanors for resisting law enforcement and public intoxication after reportedly running away from police on April 24.
Nashville Police Officer Cody Poynter was dispatched to the 200 block of Van Buren Street after a caller reported a man refusing to leave an apartment, according to a probable cause affidavit. By the time the officer arrived, 32-year-old Kyle Idstein of Louisville, Kentucky, had run down an alley.
Police found Idstein at the dead end of Franklin Street near the Cornerstone Inn. He continued to run while officers told him to stop. Officers pointed a Taser at Idstein, telling him to get on the ground, but he would only go down to his knees, according to the affidavit. Idstein was placed under arrest for resisting law enforcement.
Poynter reported smelling alcohol on Idstein. A breath test showed his blood-alcohol content to be 0.219, more than twice the legal limit of 0.08.
Brown County Sheriff’s Deputy Nicholson Briles spoke with the caller who said that they were on the balcony at their home when Idstein walked by and joked about being a stripper for their party. Idstein proceeded up the stairs to the apartment and walked into the hallway. He asked for a drink, but he was asked to leave by the residents. The caller told police that Idstein became upset and would not leave, according to the affidavit.
He was taken to the Brown County jail. At the jail, he apologized to officers for running and said he knew it was wrong, the affidavit states.
Man faces marijuana charges after traffic stop
A traffic stop in March has resulted in a local man being charged with misdemeanors for possession of paraphernalia and marijuana.
On March 19, Nashville Police Officer Billy Bryant reported seeing a vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed on State Road 46 West. He stopped the driver, Luke Pennington, 20, of Nashville. Bryant asked if there was anything illegal in the vehicle and Pennington said no. Bryant asked if there was any marijuana inside the vehicle and Pennington reportedly did not answer, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Pennington then said there was some marijuana and a smoking pipe in the trunk. Marijuana, a glass pipe, a grinder and other paraphernalia were found in the vehicle, the affidavit states.
He was charged in Brown Circuit Court with possession of marijuana, a Class B misdemeanor, and possession of paraphernalia, a Class C misdemeanor.
Paraphernalia charges filed for vape pen
HAMBLEN TWP. — A Brown County man faces a Class C misdemeanor for possession of paraphernalia after police responded to a call of a possible overdose.
Police, EMS and Hamblen Fire responded to the call March 9 in the Bell Road area. Dispatch told responders that the caller, 61-year-old Jeffrey Partyka, informed them that he had smoked a marijuana vape pen and believed he was overdosing, as he could not walk and was having trouble breathing.
Sgt. Chad Williams with the Brown County Sheriff’s Department asked Partyka what he had smoked and he told the officer it was a vape pen he found that he believed had marijuana in it. Partyka told police he had found it at the Ceraland Park.
EMS transported Partyka to Columbus Regional Hospital. He was charged April 27 with possession of paraphernalia.
Man arrested for domestic battery at lakes
CORDRY-SWEETWATER — A man was charged with misdemeanor domestic battery and disorderly conduct after physical fight at a home on Lion Drive.
Sgt. Jimmy Green responded to the call on May 3 that involved Robert Collins, 53, of Mitchell, and a woman. By the time he arrived, Collins had gone into the woods. Green attempted to speak with the caller, whose right eye was bleeding and swollen. He started to take photos of her injuries while she kept walking back into the house, yelling and cursing at officers, the police report said. She told police that Collins punched her in the face for no reason and he choked her as she was on the floor.
Collins was found a short time later in the woods.
An ambulance attempted to treat the victim for her injuries, but she reportedly refused to sit down. Medics were able to check her vitals and advised her she needed to go to the hospital.
Collins was bleeding from the left side of his face and the right side of his neck. Green took photos of his injuries and asked where the blood came from. Collins told Green that he was in bed when the woman came into the bedroom. He said she was mad at him because he wouldn’t take her to get cigarettes then jumped on top of him and started punching him. Collins said she started kicking him in the face, then hit him from behind and started yelling at him that he was going to jail for battery, that law enforcement was on her side and would not believe him. Collins told police the only time he touched her was to get her off him.
Collins told police he needed to have his neck checked. He was transported to Johnson Memorial Hospital, then to the Brown County jail.
Green recommended charges against Collins and the woman, but as of press time, charges had only been filed against Collins.
OWI charges filed against driver involved in crash
HAMBLEN TWP. — Multiple misdemeanor charges have been filed against a 53-year-old Brown County man after the results of a blood test showed he was intoxicated when he crashed his vehicle in December.
Gary Watkins of Pool Road was charged April 30 with three misdemeanors for operating a vehicle while intoxicated. The charges stem from when Brown County Sheriff’s Deputy Michael Horn responded to a crash with injury on Spearsville Road Dec. 12.
Horn reported seeing Watkins in the driver’s seat with his body laying across the passenger seat of the Chevy Equinox. EMS personnel helped Watkins out of the vehicle and onto a stretcher. Horn reported that Watkins was “disheveled,” that his eyes were bloodshot, his speech was slurred and that he could smell alcohol on him. He was treated for a bloody nose.
In the ambulance, Horn asked if Watkins had been drinking and Watkins told him he had taken several shots of Jägermeister and several beers. Horn reported seeing beer bottles in the passenger floorboard, according to the affidavit.
Watkins continued to go in and out of consciousness, so he was transported by EMS to Johnson Memorial Hospital. At the hospital, Watkins was conscious and alert. He again told Horn he remembered taking the shots and drinking the beers before the crash, but did not remember anything about the accident, according to the affidavit.
Watkins agreed to a blood test. On April 15, the results were returned and showed Watkins’ blood-alcohol content to be 0.20, more than twice the legal limit of 0.08, according to court paperwork.
Report of person passed out in vehicle leads to arrest
HAMBLEN TWP. — Police responded to a report of a person passed out behind the wheel of a running vehicle on April 25 and ended up arresting the driver for possession of methamphetamine, marijuana and paraphernalia.
Brown County Sheriff’s Deputy Nicholson Briles responded to Pumpkin Ridge Road along with Deputy Kyle Minor. Briles reported the vehicle was parked at the dead end, blocking the parking area to the state forest, according to a probable cause affidavit.
It appeared that the driver, 24-year-old Garrett Hoskins of Peoga Road, was asleep. Briles knocked on the window for several seconds before Hoskins woke up. Hoskins seemed disoriented and slumped over the steering wheel. He would not roll down the windows at first, but eventually complied with the deputies’ commands, the affidavit states.
Hoskins told police he had driven to the area to sleep because he wanted to get away from his house. Briles noted that Hoskins was sweating heavily and his eyes were bloodshot.
Hoskins gave the deputies consent to search his vehicle. Minor reported finding a small glass pipe. Hoskins told the deputies the pipe was used to smoke meth. He said said he smokes marijuana wax and that there would be paraphernalia in there that he uses to smoke it.
He told the deputies he left his home because he did not want to smoke meth in front of his friends, the police report said.
On May 3, Hoskins was charged with possession of methamphetamine, a Level 6 felony; possession of marijuana, a Class B misdemeanor; and possession of paraphernalia, a Class C misdemeanor.
Police: Driver under influence of prescription pills
A 41-year-old Columbus woman faces multiple misdemeanors in Brown County after she was stopped for having an expired license plate and police discovered she was driving while intoxicated.
Nashville Police Officer Cody Poynter responded to a report of a possible intoxicated driver in the Brown County IGA parking lot. He saw a vehicle leave the parking lot that had an expired license plate, the probable cause affidavit states.
Poynter stopped it intersection of Snyder Road and State Road 46 East. Loralea Lashley was the driver. When Poynter came to the window, she was staring out the windshield and not acknowledging him, the affidavit states. Poynter knocked on the window and she rolled it down. He noticed she was shaking and seemed scared, but Lashley said she was fine. He also reported seeing several prescription medication bottles in the purse sitting next to her.
A portable breath test showed her blood-alcohol content to be 0.085, more than the legal limit 0.08. Lashley refused to submit to a certified test, but Poynter was able to get a search warrant for the blood test results, the affidavit states. She was taken to Columbus Regional Hospital for a blood draw, then back to the Brown County jail where she was booked in.
The results of the blood test showed her BAC to be 0.066, under the legal limit for a driver. However, there was also hydrocodone in her blood, for which Lashley did not have an active prescription, the affidavit states.
On May 5, she was charged with three misdemeanors for operating a vehicle while intoxicated and operating a vehicle with a Schedule I or II controlled substance or its metabolite in the blood.
Three minors charged with possession of alcohol after stop
A traffic stop for driving 81 mph in a 55 mph zone resulted in three minors being charged with misdemeanors for possession of alcohol.
Nashville Police Chief Ben Seastrom stopped the vehicle driven by Michael Elsner, 20, of Cincinatti, Ohio, after he saw it while sitting at the Brown County Antique Mall on April 13.
Esner was driving the vehicle, which belonged to back seat passenger Alida Flores, 19, of Hanover. In the front seat was 20-year-old Logan Bennett of Patriot.
Brown County Sheriff’s Deputy Jacob Gibson arrived on scene to assist and reported seeing two open cans of alcohol in the vehicle. In the back of the front passenger seat, the other can was at Bennett’s feet and there was a third can by in the door by Bennett’s right leg, according to a probable cause affidavit.
The group told Seastrom they had not been drinking and that the cans belonged to someone else who had been in the car earlier. Officers collected three Mike’s Hard Lemonade cans that still had alcohol inside and were cold to the touch, the affidavit states.
Breath tests showed Elsner’s blood-alcohol content to be 0.017. Bennett’s was 0.078 and Flores’ was 0.10.
The group poured the cans out and threw them away. They were issued a summons and released from the scene. All three were formally charged on April 30 with minor in possession of alcohol, a Class C misdemeanor.
Man faces felony for driving as habitual traffic violator
A 33-year-old Columbus man was arrested in Brown County on May 12, and later charged with a felony, after police discovered he was driving as an habitual traffic violator.
Nashville Police Officer Cody Poynter was pulling into the Brown County Law Enforcement Center when a red car passed him. After Poynter ran the license plate, he discovered the registered owner, Christopher Mack, had a warrant out of Jackson County and was a habitual traffic violator with no license, a probable cause affidavit states.
The vehicle also had a license plate that returned to an SUV. Poynter conducted a stop on the vehicle at the Circle K on State Road 46 East.
Mack was arrested and taken to the Brown County jail. He was charged with a Level 6 felony on May 13 for operating a vehicle as an habitual traffic violator.
