LEBANON (TN)- Three people were taken into custody early this morning after a Wilson County deputy conducted a traffic stop on North Cumberland Street in Lebanon. Deputy Seth Kinslow observed a vehicle traveling on north Castle Heights Avenue around 4 a.m. with a brake light out. Upon making the initial contact with the driver, Deputy Kinslow asked for the registration of the vehicle. The driver, identified as James A. Reeves of Gainsboro, stated that he had just purchased the vehicle minutes prior to the traffic stop. Reeves could not tell Deputy Kinslow who he had bought it from. When Reeves was asked by Deputy Kinslow where he purchased the vehicle from, he stated “down the road.”
Reeves and two other passengers were asked to exit the vehicle after the tag that was displayed did not match the vehicle they were in. During a pat down search for weapons on the front passenger, Ricky B. Bowman of Carthage, an unmarked pill bottle containing a crystal-like substance believed to be meth was located along with a crushed green pill that Bowman identified as Xanax and a broken white oval pill in his front pocket by Sgt. Chris Keyes.
After consent was given by Reeves to search the vehicle, a wallet was located in the back seat where the second passenger, Amanda B. Elswick of Carthage, was sitting. The contents of the wallet consisted of a plastic bag with approximately 2.5 grams of a crystal-like substance believed to be meth. Elswick’s purse contained a set of digital scales as well as another bag that contained 5 large bags filled with a crystal-like substance with a total weight of 9.9 ounces believed to be meth.
“In the majority of our traffic stops and drug related search warrants, Methamphetamine is being located in a large percentage of those cases,” stated Sheriff Robert Bryan. “You never know how a simple traffic stop is going to end. Deputy Kinslow relied on his training and experience which led to more drugs being taken off the street.”
Bowman was transported to the Wilson County Jail and booked for (Manufacture, Delivery, Sale and Possession of Meth), Possession of a SCH III Drug and Possession of a SCH IV Drug. Elswick was booked on charges of (Manufacture, Delivery, Sale and Possession of Meth) and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Reeves was charged with (Altering, Falsifying, or Forging Evidences of Title, Assignments or Plates).
