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Failure to maintain lane leads to drug arrest
Newton County Sheriff Car---WEB

COVINGTON, Ga. - A traffic stop for failure to maintain lane and a tag light that wasn’t working led to the arrest of a Monticello man on drug charges by the Newton County Sheriff’s Office (NCSO) Sunday.

According to a NCSO incident report, Deputy Christopher Richardson was patrolling the area of Flat Shoals Road shortly before 11:30 p.m. June 4 when he observed a black Honda Accord fail to maintain its lane. The car also had a non-working tag light.

Richardson conducted a traffic stop on the vehicle at Flat Shoals and Stacia Drive and made contact with the female driver. Two males were also in the vehicle.  According to the report, after telling the driver why he stopped her, Richardson asked if there was anything illegal in the car. The driver replied there was not. Richardson asked if he could search the vehicle, the driver said he could.

According to the report, while speaking with one of the passengers, Richardson noticed the other passenger, John Sanders, 49, put his left hand between the door and the seat. After asking Sanders to step out of the vehicle and searching him, Richardson searched the vehicle.

According to the report, Richardson searched the area where Sanders was sitting and reportedly found a container with two shards of suspected methamphetamine. After placing Sanders in handcuffs, Richardson returned to the vehicle and removed a bag and placed it on the trunk. Sanders identified the bag as his. According to the report, Richardson found a pill bottle containing two multi-colored pills suspected to be Ecstasy. Nothing else illegal was found in the car.

Richardson issued the driver a warning for the failure to maintain lane and tag light. Sanders was transported to the Newton County Law Enforcement Center on charges of possession of methamphetamine and possession of a schedule I controlled substance.