A complaint of drugs brought into the homeless shelter led to the arrest of Richard E. Smith, Jr. for possession of marijuana Thursday evening.

Officers from the Covington Police Department were responding to the complaint at the shelter when they happened upon Smith riding his bike around the intersection of Washington Street and Turner Lake Road. 

They approached Smith and asked where he was coming from and where he was headed. He admitted to be coming from the shelter and said he was heading to a friend’s home to sleep over. Familiar with the shelter’s rules, the officers asked Smith if he wasn’t violating the shelter’s curfew and he allegedly said “it was OK because he was being kicked out.”

Officers asked Smith if they could search him and he agreed. He told them there were no weapons or drugs on him, but when they opened his wallet to retrieve his ID officers reportedly saw something fall out of it. When they picked it up off the ground they found that it was a burnt, rolled cigarette.

The officers asked Smith if they were to smell the cigarette would it smell like marijuana and he allegedly said “I can’t lie, it is.” Smith was told the reason he was originally stopped was because someone from the shelter called and said he had dropped drugs on the premises and then left. Smith admitted to doing that as well, according to reports. 

Smith was charged with possession of marijuana less than one ounce and transported to the Newton County Detention Center where he remains.