Purchases of pseudoephedrine in Madisonville and a traffic stop in Tellico Plains led to five drug arrests between Friday and Saturday.

Monroe County Sheriff's Drug Officer Conway Mason said he was told subjects were buying large quantities of pseudoephedrine containing pills from various businesses and followed one of them from Walgreens to C&R Market where he watched the suspect also buy a gallon of Coleman fuel.
Mason stopped the suspect after he left the market and found the driver to be Jimmy M. Moore, 44, Acorn Gap Road, Madisonville. Mason ran Moore's driver's license and it came back suspended. Mason placed Moore under arrest and then searched his car.

While searching the car, Mason found the Coleman fuel, the pseudoephedrine pills and a can of Draino. Moore was then charged with promoting the manufacture of methamphetamine.
It was another visit to Walgreens that led to two more people being arrested that same day.
Mason was informed of the purchase of pseudoephedrine at the store and was told the suspects had driven across Highway 411 to the CVS.

Mason followed the car into the parking lot and stopped it for the occupants not wearing seatbelts. Mason spoke with the driver, Rebecca Davis, 33, Husky Road, Madisonville, and the passenger, Christopher E. Farris, 34, same address, and told them of the complaint he had received.
Mason was given permission to search the vehicle and found three boxes of pseudoephedrine. Davis told Mason they were purchasing the pills for someone else and Farris said they knew what the pills were for, but they "were selling them just to get by."

Farris and Davis were both charged with promoting the manufacture of methamphetamine.
And a Virginia man who was allegedly drinking wine while driving was arrested after a traffic stop in Tellico Plains Saturday evening.

Tellico Plains Police Sgt. Brian Millsaps said he stopped a car for speeding on Highway 68 and found the driver, Donald Blair Browder, 48, Annandale, Va., smelling of alcohol. Browder told Millsaps he'd been drinking wine while behind the wheel and proceeded to fail several field sobriety tests.
While doing this, a Monroe County Sheriff's K-9 unit alerted on the car and a pipe and pill bottle containing suspected marijuana was found inside, along with an open bottle of wine.

Browder is charged with DUI, simple possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.

michael.thomason@advocateanddemocrat.com | 442-4575