Arrests made in two areas of state for drug and firearms violations
Published 10:53 pm Saturday, November 11, 2006
Authorities are reporting the arrests of several individuals in two areas of the state on various drug and firearms charges.
Officers said two men were arrested Thursday on felony drug charges at a West Point motel and were being held in the Clay County jail in lieu of bonds.
The Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics said its agents, the attorney general’s office and West Point and Clay County officers, acting on a tip, arrested Joseph Michael Shaw, 34, and Jefferson Vines, 19. Each faces a charge of possession of methamphetamine in connection with the seizure of 25 grams of a form of the drug known as “ice.”
“Ice is a smokable and highly potent form of methamphetamine,” MBN Director Marshall Fisher said.
In a separate investigation, two men arrested on drug and weapon charges Thursday in Starkville were awaiting initial court appearances.
Daniel Scott Norris and Robert Justin Brown face charges after the search of a residence in Starkville in which state and local officers seized 26 marijuana plants, 246 dosage units of Alprazolam and eight weapons.
Norris, 23, faces charges of manufacture of marijuana and felony possession of a Schedule IV controlled substance, authorities said, while Brown, 22, faces charges of manufacture of marijuana and possession of an illegal weapon.
In Claiborne County in southwest Mississippi, four men face drug charges stemming from raids on two homes in the county, authorities said Friday.
Claiborne County deputies and MBN agents searched the home Jack E. Ross Jr., 39, of Utica. Evidence found in the home led to charges against Ross that include of possession of two or more precursors with intent to manufacture methamphetamine while in possession of a firearm and conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine, officers said.
Fisher said the raid was also based on a tip.
Additional investigation led the officers to the residence of Danny Ray Lee, 51, of Utica. Lee was booked on charges of conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine and child endangerment in connection with conditions surrounding a 16-year-old female at the home, officials said.
Officers said Scotty L. Shires, 29, and Frank Halton Womack, 37, who were at Lee’s residence, also were arrested. Shires was booked on conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine and Womack on possession of methamphetamine paraphernalia.
The Mississippi Department of Human Services transferred custody of the teen to her mother.