Marietta drug-sniffing canine finds makeshift drug store

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Canine officer Atos with the drug haul spread on a Marietta police carCanine Officer Atos with his haul of drugs (photo courtesy of the Marietta Police Department)

Posted By: Larry Felton Johnson March 10, 2020

Yesterday evening, Atos, a canine officer, and his handler Marietta Officer Johnson netted quite a haul of illegal drugs, allegedly being sold from a makeshift store in the back of a pickup truck.

A public information release from Officer Chuck Philamy describes the bust as follows. [We’ve redacted the names of the people arrested due to the Cobb County Courier’s policy of only running names once a conviction or guilty plea takes place]:

Sunday evening, March 8th, canine officer Atos and handler Officer Johnson were on patrol when they observed a 2014 F-150 Ford truck make odd maneuvers appearing to try to avoid their marked police vehicle.  Officer Johnson got behind the suspect vehicle and ran the license plate through his in-car computer.  The license plate came back suspended, giving Officer Johnson probable cause to initiate a traffic stop.  The driver, forty-four- year-old [suspect 1] of Atlanta Georgia exited the vehicle.  Officer Johnson discovered that [suspect 1] had methamphetamine in his pocket.  Officer Johnson then asked the passenger, thirty-seven-year-old [suspect 2] of Suwanee Georgia to exit the vehicle.  Canine officer Atos performed an open-air sniff of the unoccupied suspect vehicle, alerting on it for the presence of additional narcotics.  The vehicle search yielded the following items:

Drugs:  40 psilocybin mushrooms, 3 crack pipes, 7 bags of crack cocaine (12g total), 3 bags of methamphetamine, 4 bags of heroin, 4 fentanyl patches, 3 digital scales, 32g of marijuana, 5 MDMA pills, 1 bag of brown crystals (suspected to be ketamine)

Pills:      19 clonazepam, 5 cetirizine, 4 methocarbamol, 1 sevelamer carbonate, 14 diphenhydramine, 9 zolpidem, 1 hydrocodone, 7 oxycodone, 11 tramadol, 1 trazadone, 2 sumatriptan, 39 quetiapine, 4 sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim, 1 guaifenesin, 4 dextroamphetamine and an additional 15 unidentified pills

Guns:    Smith and Wesson revolver, Glock 36, Hi Point C9 Rifle

Additionally, 2 bags of crack cocaine and a Hi Point C9 pistol were located in [suspect 1]’s possession.

[suspect 1] was arrested and is being held on a $50,000 bond facing (12) felony and (2) misdemeanor charges.

[suspect 2] was also arrested and is being held on a $10,000 bond facing felony possession of cocaine and felony possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.