Staff reports

A Trafalgar man who was pulled over for speeding now faces multiple drug charges.

Brown County Sheriff’s Deputy Nicholson Briles initiated the traffic stop on State Road 46 East near Parkview Road on Jan. 19 after observing a vehicle traveling 70 mph in a 50 mph zone.

Once the vehicle was stopped he made contact with the driver, 39-year-old Matthew A. Coy from Trafalgar. According to the probable cause affidavit, Briles immediately noticed the odor of marijuana coming from inside the vehicle.

Deputy Kyle Minor, Sgt. Chad Williams and Nashville Police Officer Dylan Smock all arrived on scene to assist.

Briles advised Coy to exit the vehicle and asked if he had any marijuana inside. Coy reportedly told police he had marijuana with him and willingly gave a baggie containing the substance to them.

Coy told police marijuana was all that he had.

Briles and Smock began a search of the vehicle and found two syringes in the center console, which Coy told police he was taking to a needle exchange program in Bloomington. He told police he had a volunteer card for the business. Police could not find the card, according to the affidavit.

Coy reportedly said that he had gone to Bloomington to pick up syringes from the needle exchange to take to a friend. Police asked if he still uses drugs and he said he did.

Police also found multiple pills in the vehicle, determined to be buprenorphine hydrochloride, a schedule III controlled substance. Coy told police he had a prescription for different medications, but did not list the pills that were found, according to the affidavit.

At the Brown County jail, Coy told police about the needle exchange program. He said he had the needles for five days.

Coy was told he would be charged with possession of the syringes and he eventually told police they were actually his. He said he was taking them to someone else for drug use.

On Jan. 20, Coy was charged with unlawful possession of a syringe, Level 6 felony; possession of a controlled substance, Class A misdemeanor; and possession of marijuana, Class A misdemeanor. The misdemeanor for possession of marijuana was elevated due to a prior conviction in 2016.

Two charged with multiple felonies

Two people face multiple criminal charges after deputies with the Brown County Sheriff’s Department responded to a welfare check where they discovered drugs and paraphernalia in their possession.

Brown County Sheriff’s deputies Joshua Stargell and Jacob Gibson responded to the welfare check on Lower Schooner Road after a caller requested a check on two adults and a child.

Upon their arrival, the property owner informed them that his step-daughter, Lindsey Gilliland and her boyfriend, Caleb Moore, both 19 and of Nashville, had been smoking marijuana in the home, in a pole barn and in their vehicle on the property.

The owner said that drug use had been an issue since the couple arrived from Oklahoma in September of 2021. According to the affidavit, he said the couple had smoked marijuana in the living room next to an infant.

He said that he had found marijuana paraphernalia in the couple’s vehicle and bedroom in January. He also told police that a prescription for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder medicine belonging to his younger daughter was found in the couple’s room.

Stargell shined a light into the couple’s vehicle and reported seeing multiple vape pens in the vehicle and marijuana paraphernalia. A search warrant for the home and vehicle was then granted.

Inside the home, Stargell and Nashville Police Officer Billy Bryant made contact with Gilliland and Moore, who were in their bedroom.

Gilliland told police that she used to have a medical marijuana card in Oklahoma. Police found prescriptions not in their names, marijuana, paraphernalia and alcohol in the room. More items were found in the vehicle including vape pens.

Gilliland told police another relative told her to keep the prescriptions in their room. That relative told police that was not true.

Moore told police he and Gilliland were taking the prescription medication that was not in their names.

According to the probable cause affidavit, Gilliland said she and Moore did not smoke in front of the infant and that they take turns smoking away from the infant.

The Department of Child Services were contacted immediately and arrived on scene. The child remained in the care of a relative at the home.

Gilliland and Moore were both arrested and booked into the Brown County jail. On Jan. 27 they were both formally charged with unlawful possession or use of a legend drug, Level 6 felony; possession of marijuana, Class B misdemeanor; possession of paraphernalia, Class C misdemeanor; and minor in possession of alcohol, Class C misdemeanor.

Ohio woman faces felony after traffic stop

A woman from Ohio has been charged with a Level 6 felony for possession of a legend drug after a traffic stop on Jan. 22.

Brown County Sheriff’s Deputy Jacob Gibson initiated a traffic stop on State Road 46 East after observing a vehicle with unreadable paper registration and a malfunctioning license plate light.

He approached the driver side of the vehicle and made contact with 21-year-old Alissa Harrison from Hamilton, Ohio. Her license returned expired.

Nashville Police Officer Billy Bryant arrived on scene and made contact with the passenger, who said their license was also expired and they had been drinking.

Consent was given to search the vehicle and officers reported finding an open bottle of alcohol and an unopened beer in the passenger compartment. The passenger said they had been drinking when they stopped for a break, a probable cause affidavit states.

Bryant located a pill bottle prescribed to a third individual, who was not in the vehicle.

Harrison agreed to speak with police and told them that the bottle belonged to a relative she had been staying with and that she had received the medicine from him to help her sleep. Gibson told her that possessing someone else’s medication was illegal.

The passenger said they did not know the medication was in the vehicle. Harrison was booked into the Brown County jail. She was formally charged with unlawful possession of a legend drug, a Level 6 felony, on Jan. 25.