Three Rockbridge County residents were taken into custody in connection following drug stops conducted by agents with the James River Regional Drug Task Force in Botetourt County earlier this month, according to press releases put out by the Rockbridge County Sheriff’s Office over the weekend.
In one release, the sheriff’s office reported that on Friday, April 17, special agents with the regional drug task force working with deputies from the Botetourt County Sheriff’s Office made a traffic stop near Interstate 81 exit 156 in Botetourt County. During the stop, a K-9 unit from Botetourt County conducted an open air sniff of the vehicle and alerted to the presence of illegal drugs. A search of the vehicle resulted in the seizure of approximately 34 grams of methamphetamine.
The occupants of the vehicle, identified as Shyanne Elizabeth Bryant and Charles Louis Fitzgerald Jr., both 23, of Natural Bridge Station, were taken into custody and each charged with one count of possession of 20 grams or more of methamphetamine with intent to distribute. Both are being held in the Botetourt County Jail without bond, pending hearings in Botetourt County General District Court.
In a separate press release, the Rockbridge County Sheriff’s Office reported that a Natural Bridge woman was caught in two different regional drug task force traffic stops in the past few months.
The first, conducted on Feb. 7, in the 4400 block of South Lee Highway in the Natural Bridge area, involved deputies with the Rockbridge County Sheriff’s Office working in conjunction with special agents from the drug task force.
During the stop, a Rockbridge County K-9 conducted an open-air sniff of the vehicle and alerted to the presence of illegal drugs, and a subsequent search of the vehicle resulted in the seizure of approximately 30 grams of methamphetamine. The driver of the vehicle was identified as Jessica Belle Broughman, 45, of Natural Bridge. Criminal charges were deferred pending laboratory analysis by the Virginia Department of Forensic Science.
On April 19, during a separate traffic stop, this one conducted in Botetourt County in coordination with that county’s sheriff’s office, Broughman was stopped near I-81 exit 156. A K-9 unit conducted an open air sniff of the vehicle and alerted to the presence of illegal drugs. A search of the vehicle resulted in the seizure of 13.5 grams of methamphetamine. Broughman was taken into custody and charged with one count of possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute. She is currently being held without bond in the Botetourt County Jail pending a hearing in Botetourt County General District Court.
Both investigations against Broughman remain active and additional charges are forthcoming, the release noted.
“These cases demonstrate exactly how committed our agencies are to working together across jurisdictional lines to target and arrest those who are poisoning our communities,” said Rockbridge County and Lexington City Sheriff Tony McFaddin, Botetourt County Sheriff Matt Ward, and Bedford County Sheriff Mike Miller in a joint statement. “Through the James River Regional Drug Task Force, our offices work hand in hand with one another, the city and town police departments throughout Rockbridge, Botetourt, and Bedford counties, and the Virginia State Police to aggressively investigate drug trafficking wherever it occurs. If you bring illegal drugs into or through our counties, you will be investigated and you will be arrested. We will continue taking these dangerous substances off the street and holding drug traffickers accountable.” -In addition to releases about those arrests, McFaddin also put out a press release about another arrest that resulted from a separate operation conducted by agents with the regional drug task force in February in coordination with the Rockbridge County Sheriff’s Office.
During the initial operation on Feb.7, conducted in the Vesuvius area, agents with the drug task force identified an individual and vehicle suspected of being a source of methamphetamine in Rockbridge County. Agents continued surveillance through the county and the city of Buena Vista, during which they observed what appeared to be a hand-to-hand drug transaction. A deputy with the Rockbridge County Sheriff’s Office then conducted a traffic stop of the vehicle at the intersection of South Lee Highway and Fox Hunt Road in the Fancy Hill area of the county.
A K-9 unit from Rockbridge County alerted to the presence of illegal drugs inside the vehicle and a search found more than 20 grams of “suspected methamphetamine” and more than $1,800 in cash. The vehicle was seized but criminal charges against the driver, identified as Jeffrey Wayne Saunders, 55, of Lexington, were deferred pending analysis by the Virginia Department of Forensic Science.
On Feb. 15, investigators received information indicating that Saunders may be traveling to obtain more illegal narcotics. Agents with the drug task force and deputies with the Rockbridge County Sheriff’s Office located another vehicle associated with Saunders and attempted to make a traffic stop on it after it returned to Rockbridge County. Saunders failed to stop and fled, discarding a backpack containing over one pound of methamphetamine during the pursuit. He was eventually taken into custody without further incident, and a subsequent search of his vehicle resulted in the seizure of an additional 10 grams of methamphetamine.
Saunders was charged with two felony counts of possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute, one felony count of eluding police, and three misdemeanors: one count of failure to stop at a stop sign, one count of failure to drive on the right side of the highway and one count of reckless driving.
He has been held at Rockbridge Regional Jail without bond since his arrest and the investigation remains active, meaning additional charges may be forthcoming, though no additional charges have been filed as of Monday afternoon. A preliminary hearing for the charges from his arrest is scheduled for June 5 in Rockbridge County General District Court.
“This case reflects exactly what our drug enforcement efforts are focused on — identifying repeat suppliers, disrupting trafficking activity, and removing large quantities of dangerous drugs from our community,” said McFaddin in the press release. “More than a pound of methamphetamine off the streets represents real harm prevented. We remain committed to working with our partners to aggressively pursue those who choose to profit from addiction.”
