A traffic stop due to the driver not wearing his seat belt led police to finding methamphetamine and more than one-third of a pound of marijuana.
The driver, James Anthony Mills Jr., of Greenwood, was arrested on multiple felony charges. He was already out of jail on bond due to felony charges filed earlier this year of possession of methamphetamine, possession of a handgun by a felon and possession or marijuana. He had missed a court appearance related to those charges and also was wanted on a warrant for failure to appear, court records show.
Mills, 26, was arrested Saturday morning on new charges of carrying an unlawful handgun, theft, driving while suspended, dealing in methamphetamine, possession of cocaine or narcotic and failure to appear after police stopped his truck when a Franklin police officer saw him driving on U.S. 31 without wearing his seat belt, according to a police report.
The stop was part of the Operation Pull Over program, an operation meant to target unbuckled or impaired drivers by increasing traffic enforcement and paid for with grant dollars.
Police found a handgun in the truck that had been reported stolen in Columbus, the report said.
Police stopped his truck at the intersection with Jefferson Street. He had pain medication in his pants pocket, the report said. A police dog was called to help search his truck, and officers found 50 grams of methamphetamine and .35 pounds of marijuana, the report said. Both amounts are enough to rise the charge to the level of dealing drugs, the report said.
Officers also found a loaded handgun and rifle, scales and a plastic bag sealer, the report said.
Mills said he didn’t know about the pills because the pants belonged to someone else, and the truck belonged to another person as well, the report said.
Mills, of 941 Ramblin Road, was held at the Johnson County jail without bond on the failure to appear charge. His bond on the additional charges was set at $80,000.
