Dade County Sheriff’s Office Makes Two Drug-Related Arrests
By LYDIA BERGLAR
News Editor
Photo courtesy of DCSO
Over Veterans Day weekend, the Dade County Sheriff’s Office made two drug-related arrests, each with multiple charges including intent to distribute. The office reported that one traffic stop led to seizing over one pound of ecstasy (MDMA). The estimated 2,300 pills are valued at over $45,000 total. The other traffic stop resulted in seizure of several bags of methamphetamine valued at over $1,200.
Booking information for the ecstasy arrest is as follows:
Cornelius Antwon Beard (41 of Conyers, Ga.)
- Possession of a Schedule 1 Controlled Substance
- Possession with the Intent to Distribute
- Drug Trafficking
- Window Tint Violation
- Obscured or Missing License Plate
Photo courtesy of DCSO
- Driving while License Suspended/Revoked
Booking information for the methamphetamine arrest is as follows:
Megan Elizabeth Williams (35 of Flat Rock, Ala.)
- Tag Light Required
- Obscured or Missing License Plate
- Affixing Tag with Intent to Conceal Identity of Vehicle
- No Insurance
- Possession of Methamphetamine with Intent to Distribute
- Possession of Drug Related Objects
Sergeant Chad Payne (public information officer) reported that the DCSO routinely makes drug arrests, but the amounts are usually “user amounts.”
He explained that the pound of ecstasy is larger than amounts the DCSO typically sees, but headed that “amounts like that pass through Dade daily on the interstates. Unfortunately, we don’t have the manpower to dedicate deputies to an interdiction unit, so our guys have to work it when we’re not running normal calls.”
Both of these recent arrests began as traffic stops. Payne explained, “The majority of these types of traffic-related drug arrests initiate with equipment violations, window tint, missing or swapped tags, etc.”
When asked how the sheriff’s office is able to discern intent to distribute (as opposed to arrests for possession), Payne explained, “The intent to distribute charges are determined by the evidence collected along with the crime. Things like multiple baggies containing the same substance that appear to be ‘weighed out’ the same, lots of empty extra baggies, scale(s), etc. It’s the totality of it.”
