Raid leads to big stash of meth, edible candies and packaging
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Leakesville man, 41, charged with aggravated trafficking
From Staff Reports
A search warrant executed in Leakesville this week produced the big stash of hi-grade methamphetamine police were expecting. But what they weren’t expecting was the large quantity of edible cannabis gummies in packaging designed to mimic popular candy brands.
Leakesville resident Christopher Sumlin,41, was arrested Thursday after police executed a search warrant on a residence on Annex Road. During their search of the premises police say they found approximately 12 ounces of methamphetamine (ice) in several baggies of varied weights. They also found opened and unopened packets of hi-dosage THC edibles in packages modeled after popular name brand candies, as well as a few packages of marijuana ‘flower’ in similar packages. They also discovered numerous unopened, unused candy packages, each brightly colored with graphics that resemble the same candies area kids are drawn to at convenience stores and other retail locations. The opened packets revealed soft gummies and hard candies made to look, and presumably, taste like those same popular brands.
Police also confiscated a .9-mm handgun, ammunition and an assault-weapon styled air rifle that shoots BBs.
“It’s pretty troubling really,” Greene County Chief Deputy Brad Warrick said. “We’ve been dealing with the ice and things like that and we are seeing more and more of the THC edibles, but when you see this packaging, it just shocks you a little.”
“Any child that found one of these packages would eat the whole thing before anyone knew they had it. And, this is high-potency stuff. It is just incredible really. There is just no other way to look at this stuff and argue that it is not marketed to kids.”
Warrick’s concerns are warranted as news reports of kids and teens being hospitalized due to overdoes of high THC products are commonplace. Just last week, three third-grade students in a Northern California elementary school were hospitalized after eating cannabis gummies with the other kids during snack time. Police and school officials said the student who brought the edibles to school was not aware they contained marijuana.
Officials said they had not yet determined what they believe Sumlin planned to do with the unused packaging. No loose candies for repackaging were discovered in the raid of the residence.
They say they do, however, know what Sumlin intended to do with the 300-plus grams of ice they now have in evidence. Sumlin, who was just recently released from prison on a previous drug conviction, is being charged with aggravated trafficking of a controlled substance (meth) and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
Sumlin was sentenced to three years for possession of a controlled substance in 2009. He pled guilty to sale of meth in 2021 and sentence to 10 years, but ordered to serve only one of those with the remainder on post-release supervision. He was released from prison on parole on New Years Day 2022. As of late Friday, MDOC had not placed a hold on him for parole violation, but he remained in the Greene County Jail on a total bond of $155,000.
“We were able to take a lot of high-grade dope off the streets with this arrest,” said sheriff’s department narcotics officer Brent Purcell. “This is a pretty big hit to the local drug trade.”
“This was the second meth trafficking arrest involving a recently-released felon in the last couple of days.”
Police say Amanda Dearman, 37, of Fritz Street, Leakesville, was arrested Monday, July 27, and charged with felony possession of a controlled substance after an officer stopped her on traffic violations. Dearman allegedly had 12 grams of ice in her possession when stopped. Police say they also plan to charge her with bringing contraband into the jail. Warrick said he got intel that Dearman had managed to smuggle some meth into the jail and that a subsequent search found her allegedly in possession of another ounce of ice.
Dearman remains in the Greene County Jail after MDOC placed a hold on her for violating terms of parole.