Four Days in December

CPD Closes the Year with Numerous Busts

By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter

CROCKETT – As 2018 drew to a close, the Crockett Police Department continued its effort to get drugs off the streets of Crockett. Beginning on Christmas day and continuing through Dec. 28, the Crockett police arrested five different suspects for possession of illegal narcotics.

According to information received from interim Police Chief Clayton Smith three of the arrests occurred in drug free zones.

“To some of you these arrests may seem minor but it is part of the battle to keep illegal drugs away from our children, in which we will fight every day to do,” Smith stated in a Dec. 28 press release.

On Christmas Day, officers with the Crockett Police Department responded to a call for service “… in the 1100 Block of Martin Luther King Blvd. As a result of a call for service, Officers were directed to a vehicle that was blaring loud music from inside the vehicle disturbing tenants of Pineridge Apartment Complex,” Smith stated.

The owner of the vehicle was identified as 24-year-old Degerick Sandles from Crockett. As officers spoke with Sandles, “… they detected an overwhelming odor of marijuana. Sandles was found to be in possession of 46 small cellophane baggies of marijuana which were all packaged separately as if they were prepared for sale,” the press release reported.

It was also discovered Sandles was in a Drug Free Zone, in a city park. He was arrested and charged with possession of marijuana in an amount greater than two ounces but less than four ounces, in a Drug Free Zone, a state jail felony. Sandles was also charged with resisting arrest, a Class A misdemeanor.

The next day, Dec. 26, CPD officers initiated a traffic stop near the Crockett ISD campuses on West Austin Street.

During the traffic stop, officers noticed the “… an odor of marijuana coming from the suspect’s vehicle,” the press release stated.

The driver was identified as 56-year-old Darrell Smith of Lovelady who “… admitted to the officers that it was possible that someone may have smoked marijuana inside the vehicle thus causing the odor,” Smith indicated.

A probable cause search of the vehicle resulted in officers locating 12 individually wrapped balls of marijuana. Smith was arrested and charged with possession of marijuana less than two ounces in a drug free zone, a Class A misdemeanor.

On Thursday, Dec. 27, Smith reported another traffic stop led to a meth bust as a Nacogdoches man was charged with a second degree felony

Darrell Nelms, 43, was arrested and charged with possession of a controlled substance, penalty group one, in an amount greater than four grams but less than 200 grams, after CPD officers stopped his vehicle for a traffic violation.

During the initial part of the stop, officers “… noticed that Nelms was extremely nervous and was asked to step out of the vehicle. Nelms gave consent to search his vehicle and as a result of that search officers located a clear cellophane bag containing a crystal like substance (methamphetamine),” the press release indicated.

Once Nelms was Mirandized, he admitted to possessing additional meth and “… told officers that he had a second bag inside his pocket. Officers recovered a total of two clear bags with methamphetamine totaling over eight grams.”

And on Friday, Dec. 28, Smith reported CPD officers were dispatched “… to the 100 Block of Sallas Street in reference to someone possibly breaking into a home.”

The complainants, identified as 30-year-old Ashley Butler and 20-year-old Brandon Harris, both from Crockett, told the officers a male subject had come to the residence on Sallas Street and kicked open the door.

“After entering the home the male subject accused them of coming to his home and stealing his methamphetamine and money. While in the home the subject became involved in an altercation with a male subject inside the home and sometime thereafter left the home,” Smith stated in the press release.

While CPD officers were speaking with the Butler and Harris, “… they noticed both of them to be nervous and shaky.”

A search of Harris and Butler revealed both were found to be in possession of marijuana while Harris was also found to be in possession of Ecstasy.

Butler was arrested and charged with possession of marijuana, less than two ounces, a Class B misdemeanor. Harris was also charged with possession of marijuana in an amount less than two ounces. In addition, Harris was charged with possession of a controlled substance, penalty group one, less than a gram, a state jail felony.

Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].