HAMLET — Double-teamed and knowing he was likely to be charged with failing to appear in court on another issue, a Rockingham man displayed a helpful nature during his arrest for methamphetamine possession last weekend, a Hamlet police report shows.
When Sgt. Grantland Jackson and K-9 Officer Greg Stone responded to a call about a “suspicious vehicle” parked outside the BP station on West Hamlet Avenue early Saturday, they found James Tyson McLean, 38, of Fairway Drive sitting in a black Chevrolet Silverado blocking several parking spaces, the report shows.
Jackson, having gotten there first, was talking to McLean through the driver’s-side window when Stone arrived and walked toward the passenger side of the vehicle. Seeing an officer on each side of his vehicle, the report says, McLean gave permission for a vehicle search.
When told he could leave the truck, the report says, McLean first unscrewed the dome light and removed a substance wrapped in cellophane. Jackson’s report says the cellophane packet handed to him contained “something green with white powder.” McLean, he says in the report, told him someone else had stashed it in the truck.
McLean also told officers he might have an order out for his arrest because he had missed a court date the preceding Monday, the report says.
Stone and K-9 Edy searched the vehicle while Jackson placed hand restraints on McLean and searched him. McLean volunteered that he had a glass pipe in his pants pocket, Jackson’s report says.
The substance McLean had handed him tested positive for methamphetamine on site, the report says.
Jackson took McLean to the Hamlet Police Department for fingerprinting, and then to the Richmond County Jail. He also served the warrant for failure to appear.
McLean is charged with possession of methamphetamine, a felony, and possession of drug paraphernalia, a misdemeanor.
He was released from jail on a $2,000 secured bond.
Online court records show McLean has felony charges of larceny, possession of stolen goods or property and a probation violation pending in Richmond County Superior Court, with an appearance scheduled for April 2. His apperance on the recent drug charges is set for March 15.
Tyson was arrested by Richmond County sheriff’s deputies in 2016, one of three men charged in a string of four-wheeler thefts.
He was convicted last April on three felony counts of possessing stolen goods, one count of felony larceny and a misdemeanor count of use or possession of drug paraphernalia, according to records with the N.C. Department of Public Safety Division of Adult Correction.