A former Crothersville-Vernon Township Volunteer Firefighter and his female companion were arrested last Wednesday in Scott County on a variety of drug related charges, according to Scott County Prosecutor Chris Owens.
Shawn M. Hays, 56, and Desarae R. Phillips, 46, both of the 4000 block of S. Pleasant Ridge Road, Lexington in southeast Scott County were incarcerated in Scott County Jail.
According to the probable cause affidavit filed by Detective Donovan McCutcheon, on Tuesday, Dec. 3, he was dispatched to the rural Lexington residence where the owner had reported to police that he had some tools missing and believed that two people renting a room at the residence were suspects.
McCutcheon, Deputy Isaac Stevenson and Conservation Office Claire Mitchell went to the Martin Langsdon residence to talk with those involved.
While Stevenson and Mitchell interviewed the property owner, McCutcheon went into the house to a bedroom when Hays and Phillips were staying.
Knocking on the bedroom door, the detective was met by Hays and Phillips. The officer observed the room in disarray and messy with several items of clothes, pill bottles, guitars, tools, and other items scattered all about the room as well as a big bucket half full of raw copper wire near the door which Hays stated he got from work.
Explaining that he was investigating the theft of some tools, the detective asked for and received permission from the tenants to look through their room.
McCutcheon reported in the court document, “while speaking with them I immediately observed both individuals to be acting very erratic, not sitting still, and speaking quickly while looking around very nervously. Based on my training and experience in law enforcement I know these to be signs commonly associated with methamphetamine usage,” the detective said.
Looking for the small hand tools and sockets, McCutcheon said he saw in an open drawer of an end table a plastic baggie with a crystal like substance that later test positive for methamphetamine.
Based on this plain view find McCutcheon told the couple he would be searching the rest of the room for other items and asked if he would find anything else further. “They both stated I would not find anything further and admitted they both had used methamphetamine,” according to the court document
McCutcheon reported finding a cut straw that also contained methamphetamine residue in the same drawer.
Additionally in a red Crothersville Fire Department jacket on the floor next to the bed was a blue and silver tin containing another small baggie of crystal-like substance a small cut straw and a clear glass pipe all with residue that tested positive for meth, the court document read. Hays admitted that the CVTFD jacket as well as a cellphone in the pocket belonged to him, according to the probable cause.
An official with the Crothersville-Vernon Township Fire Department said that Hays had not been a member of the local fire department for more than 12 years.
Continuing his search of the room, the detective found a large orange and white pill bottle with no label on it. Inside were 20 white round pills identified as Lexapro, a prescription drug used to treat depression and anxiety. Hays would admit that these were his, however there was no prescription for this, according to the probable cause affidavit.
In a separate black box in the room was located a digital scale which also had crystal/like residue on it, which tested positive for methamphetamine. Next to the bed was a small tin which also had a piece of a glass smoking pipe and two other small pieces of a glass smoking pipes wrapped in a t/shirt type material.
Lastly, McCutcheon reported, inside another plastic shelf was a wooden box which had a glass smoking pipe wrapped in a towel and hair tie. This, too, had a crystal-like substance in it as well that tested positive for methamphetamine as well.
Deputy Stevenson reported on a pat down of Hays, the deputy found seven empty baggies which all had a crystal-like residue in them.
Hays and Phillips were incarcerated shortly after midnight on Dec. 4, at Scott County Jail.
Hays was charged in Scott Circuit Court with felony counts of maintaining a common nuisance, possession of methamphetamine, possession of a legend drug, and a misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia.
Phillips was charged in Scott Circuit Court with felony possession of methamphetamine and maintaining a common nuisance and a misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia.
McCutcheon reported in the probable cause affidavit that no tools belonging to Langsdon were found in the bedroom.