Olney PD drug squad pulls off holiday busts

Officer Miranda Wright and K9 Bond, Olney drug interdiction team, sent five people to jail over New Year’s weekend in three separate arrests, Police Chief Dan Birbeck said. On Dec. 28, Officer Wright stopped a 2016 Honda Accord with four occupants and a dog for speeding at Main Street and Avenue D at 1:08 a.m. “Officer Wright smelled the odor of marijuana coming from the vehicle, and did a probable cause search,” Chief Birbeck said.

The driver, Heighly Coffin, 21, of Fort Worth, said she and her brother, Daniel Gandy, 26; and Alexandria Nunez, 22, of Grand Prairie, had traveled to New Mexico to purchase THC-infused items, police said. The fourth passenger, Amber Lopez of Denton, had no link to the illegal substances, police said.

Officer Wright searched the vehicle and discovered 246 grams of THC in the form of candy and vapes, and 2.389 ounces of marijuana tucked into the spare tire well, police said. Ms. Coffin, Mr. Gandy, and Ms. Nunez were arrested on suspicion of felony drug possession and jailed in lieu of $17,500 bail, jail records show. Ms. Lopez and the dog were released.

Officer Wright and Bond next arrested Homero del Rio of Olney for displaying an altered fictitious license plate on his car, Chief Birbeck said. When pulled over on North Avenue C, Mr. del Rio, 61, confessed to having a small amount of methamphetamine in his possession, Chief Birbeck said. “Bond alerted to the positive odor of methamphetamine in the vehicle and 32.9 grams were seized” from inside his coat pockets, he said. His vehicle, a 1999 GMC Jimmy, was impounded because it was used in the commission of a crime, he said.

Mr. del Rio was arrested on a felony charge of manufacture and delivery of a controlled substance. Police charged him with a second felony - tampering with evidence - for destroying a baggie of methamphetamine that had been secreted in his coat pocket in the back seat of Officer Wright’s patrol vehicle as he was being driven to Young County Jail, Chief Birbeck said.

The third drug arrest of the holiday weekend came on New Year’s Eve at 9:17 p.m. when Officer Wright pulled over Christopher Knighton of Kansas City for speeding westbound on Main St, Chief Birbeck said. “He admitted to having THC and during a probable cause search and 36 grams of THC were located … in a backpack on the back seat,” he said.

Mr. Knighton, 47, was charged with possession of a controlled substance, a second-degree felony, and taken to Young County Jail in lieu of $15,000 bail, he said. Mr. Knighton has since been released, jail records show.