A rear seat passenger in a speeding car ended up behind bars on drug charges last Monday in Scott County.
Tyler A. Roberts, 30, of the 1800 block of Kengall Lane in Louisville has been charged in Scott Circuit Court with two drug possession felonies, a felony charge of obstruction of justice, and a misdemeanor charge of possession of marijuana.
Scott County Deputy Johnney Coomer was on patrol before noon on Jan. 12 along State Road 3 near Lexington when he clocked a vehicle going 71 mph in a 55 mph speed zone.
The driver, identified as Mary Abner, had two passengers with her. The front seat passenger was eventually identified as Alexis M. Middleton of Louisville along with rear seat passenger Tyler Roberts.
Middleton was recalcitrant to provide any identification claiming to be 17-years-old, according to the probable cause affidavit.
Deputies Eric Balingit and Kyle West, along with West’s K-9 partner Charlie arrived at the scene to assist. The police dog did a free air sniff around the vehicle and alerted to the presence of narcotics in the vehicle.
Police located a metal marijuana grinder in Robert’s backpack with some marijuana residue.
Searching the vehicle police found a blue & white backpack with a white powdery substance in a plastic case attached to a billfold which had the initial A.M. on it. Continuing their search officers also found plastic baggies with a powdery substance which later tested positive for fentanyl.
Roberts told officers that all the baggies and billfold belonged to the front seat passenger Alexis Middleton.
When Coomer confronted Middleton about the billfold and baggies, he reported that she hung her head and said, “Yes, that’s me and I have a warrant out of Clark County”. According to the probable cause Middleton then told Coomer that Roberts had a bag of fentanyl underneath his scrotum.
When Deputy West questioned. Roberts about the plastic bag of fentanyl, Roberts said that that he poured the fentanyl out in the back floorboard and then chewed the bag and swallowed it.
Using tape officers collected as much of the powdery drug as possible from the vehicle’s carpet.
While Deputy West was transporting Roberts to jail, he noticed his eyes rolling back into his head and his head kept nodding off.
West decided due to Roberts’ behavior and concern of him eating the fentanyl bag, the deputy transported him to Norton Scott Memorial Hospital for evaluation.
After being cleared by medical staff, Roberts was taken to Scott County Jail. During the book-in process, jailers located a small bag of powdery substance in his underwear that later tested positive for fentanyl.
Scott Circuit Court Judge Jason Mount set Robert’s bond at $65,000.
Coomer transported Middleton to the Scott County Jail however they refused to accept her because she told them she had smoked methamphetamine with fentanyl an hour before the traffic stop. Because of the out-of-county warrant, Middleton was transported to Clark County Jail for processing. According to the court document, Middleton told Clark County Jail staff, “During the traffic stop she ate two bags of dope; one being methamphetamine and the other being fentanyl”. When asked how much of each, Middleton made quarter size round using her index finger and thumb. Clark officials then transported her to the hospital for further medical evaluation.