County police conducting a road safety check found a rolling methamphetamine lab in a car about noon Tuesday, authorities said.
Police out looking for license and seat belt violators first became suspicious when they noticed a discrepancy on the gray Cadillac Seville’s license plate, said Sgt. John Blaylock with the Floyd County Police Department.
“We were doing a road safety check at Wax Road and Harmony, and (driver) David Jones pulled up,” Blaylock said. “The numbers on the decal didn’t match the numbers on the tag.”
Upon inspection, Pfc. Greg Beck of the FCPD’s Selective Enforcement Unit noticed several open containers of alcohol in the car and began questioning the driver, Blaylock said.
During questioning, police obtained permission to search the vehicle, finding both digital scales and a quantity of suspected methamphetamine, Blaylock said.
But it wasn’t until they opened the trunk that they discovered the lab
An agent samples liquid from a jar found in the car. By William T. Martin / RN-T |
and notified the Rome-Floyd Metro Task Force.
Officer John Koehler of the Task Force said the lab, although complete, wasn’t actually cooking methamphetamine, but it did have one of the processes necessary for methamphetamine production in place.
Had the lab been operating, toxic gas from the process could have put the officers in great danger, Koehler said, and the lab could have posed an explosive risk in a crash.
The Seville’s driver, whose full name is listed in jail records as David Byron Jones, 50, of Taylorsville, was arrested and taken to Floyd County Jail.
He remained there without bond Tuesday night, charged with manufacturing methamphetamine, trafficking methamphetamine and possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute — all felonies — and misdemeanor open container and expired registration charges.
