<strong>Driver charged with five drug-related felonies from stop</strong>
A Columbus man is now facing five felony charges related to an impaired driving stop that occurred in January in Brown County.
Brown County Sheriff’s Deputy Jacob Gibson stopped Collin Schmidt, 31, on Jan. 22 eastbound on State Road 46 near Hawthorne Drive. A 911 caller had reported a possible intoxicated driver in a car matching that description. Gibson pulled behind it and reported seeing Schmidt hit the raised median separating the east and west lanes. Gibson turned on his lights to make a stop and Schmidt pulled over quickly without signalling, the police report said.
Gibson reported that Schmidt seemed irritated that he’d been pulled over; he immediately asked the officer if there was a problem. Gibson wrote that Schmidt seemed dazed. His eyes were bloodshot and his pupils were dilated "almost to where you could hardly see any color in his eyes."
Two other officers arrived on scene. Gibson asked Schmidt if he had taken any medication and he said no, then started being apologetic, the police report said. Gibson said another person had reported him swerving all over the road and Schmidt said that was impossible since he had not seen another vehicle all the way from Bloomington. "Yet, when I saw him coming into town, there was a black SUV with him," Gibson’s police report said.
Gibson ran him through several field sobriety tests, then asked him to submit to a blood draw. He drove Schmidt to Columbus Regional Hospital. On the way, Schmidt kept asking him about "trying to work this off." Gibson said that as an officer, he did not have the ability to do that.
While getting his blood drawn, Schmidt told the lab technician that he was a drug user and seeking treatment at a methadone clinic. On the way to the Brown County jail, Schmidt told the officer that he wasn’t a dealer, the police report said.
While taking inventory of the vehicle, Sgt. Colton Magner reported finding items associated with drug use, including what he believed to be heroin, and a lid to a prescription bottle that Schmidt said was his.
He was charged on April 21 with operating a vehicle while intoxicated, operating a vehicle while intoxicated — endangering a person, operating a vehicle with a Schedule I or II controlled substance or its metabolite in the blood, possession of a narcotic drug and possession of a syringe, all Level 6 felonies.
<strong>Police: Man had crystal meth, scales hidden behind radio</strong>
A Brown County man who was pulled over so that police could give him an official trespass notice from a gas station picked up additional charges when officers reported finding large amounts of drugs in the car.
Nashville Police Officer Cody Poynter stopped Benjamin Voils, 22, of North Carmel Ridge Road, on April 14 near the Law Enforcement Center. Poynter wrote in his report that he’d been looking for Voils so that he could give him an official trespass notice from Circle K on State Road 46 East.
Poynter asked for Voils’ license so that he could attach the trespass order and current stop to him in the system. In that process, Poynter learned Voils’ license had been suspended. His truck was going to be towed.
Deputy Kyle Minor asked for consent to search the truck so that a tow inventory could be completed. Voils denied the request. He was patted down for weapons and placed in a patrol car while officers did the inventory.
In the center console, Minor reported finding two plastic containers with white residue and small baggies commonly used for narcotics, and a cup in the passenger side with marijuana residue in it.
Voils was handcuffed.
Inside the radio compartment of the truck, police reported finding a scale; a glass smoking pipe with residue; a large baggie of what officers believed to be crystal meth; and a plastic container containing different kind of medications, marijuana, and more suspected crystal meth. They also found a piece of foil with what appeared to be LSD strips, the report said.
Poynter asked him what the drugs were and Voils said he didn’t know; it wasn’t his truck, the report said. Poynter told him that he was the only one in the vehicle and he knew that he’d been driving it for awhile now.
Voils was arrested and taken to the Brown County jail.
Poynter weighed the suspected crystal meth, which came in at 19.42 grams. He also reported finding five blue rectangular pills and 10 yellow rectangular pills, both of which were identified as alprazolam. It is also known as Xanax.
Voils was charged on April 15 with possession of methamphetamine, a Level 4 felony; and possession of a controlled substance, possession of marijuana and possession of paraphernalia, all misdemeanors.
