When nature calls, officers get evidence the hard way
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?Well, he wouldn?t let us have his stomach pumped so we had to go to plan B to get the evidence,? said Sheriff Jackie Matheny of Ronnie Blevins Sr., 59, who has been convicted of dealing crack cocaine before. ?Several of us, including myself, saw him put the baggies of crack in his mouth and swallow them just before he was arrested so we knew they were in his system.?
Blevins was arrested by officers with the Warren County Sheriff?s Department for allegedly selling crack cocaine to an undercover informant. When officers arrived last Wednesday afternoon to serve the warrant, Blevins was seen shoving a plastic bag in his mouth and swallowing it. The bust happened at Mark?s Market on the corner of Cascade Avenue and Bybee Branch Road. Blevins lives on the second floor of the market, which is owned by his son.
Since Blevins was in no acute distress and was conscious despite swallowing the large quantity of cocaine, wrapped in plastic baggies, lawmen could not force him to submit to a stomach pump.
Therefore, plan B was to get a bucket, a private room, and wait for nature to take its course.
?Everybody has to go sometime,? Matheny said. ?We waited around and finally he went. Then he said ?You?ve got what you want? when he was through.?
However, the passing of evidence left a dirty job for Capt. Myers, who was the officer who sifted through the suspect?s stool to remove six bags of cocaine.
?Now that?s persistent,? Matheny said. ?That?s a dedicated officer who will do that to get evidence.?
While lawmen said they had a solid case against Blevins to begin with, the collection of evidence will likely cement the case. Along with the new cocaine dealing charges, Blevins will likely owe the balance of his 18-year sentence for which he was on parole.
Lawmen and prosecutors point out it was the state parole board which let Blevins out of prison after he served just over two years of an 18-year drug sentence. They hope his violation, coupled with his continued drug dealing, will put him away for good.