Bryant
A Greenwood man who allegedly dealt methamphetamine to a woman who later passed away was arrested on a warrant Monday.
Jeremy W. “Beezy” Bryant, 34, was arrested on two felony charges of dealing meth and neglect of a dependent. He was also arrested on four misdemeanor charges: resisting law enforcement, possession of paraphernalia and two drug possession charges. The Johnson County Prosecutor’s Office will decide what, if any charges to file.
Deputies with the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office were called to a home in northern White River Township Saturday following a woman’s reported drug overdose and cardiac arrest. Life-saving measures were performed, but the woman and her unborn child were pronounced as dead on the scene. Narcotics detectives were called to the scene to investigate the death, which was connected to fentanyl and meth, according to a Johnson County Sheriff’s Office report.
After reviewing text messages, bank transactions and call history, deputies determined the woman had been in contact with Bryant, who has a criminal history with controlled substances. Deputies requested a search warrant for his home, to search for fentanyl, meth and Bryant’s cell phone. They also wanted to get a DNA sample from Bryant, according to the report.
Once the warrant was approved, deputies began surveillance on Bryant Monday morning and determined he was inside a home in the 500 block of Northgate Drive, Greenwood. Shortly after police executed a search warrant, the report says.
Deputies and members of the Johnson County SWAT team announced themselves and asked Bryant to leave his home. He refused but a juvenile exited the home, according to the report.
Officers repeatedly asked Bryant to leave the home and used flash-bangs, but he did not comply. Deputies tried to speak to Bryant on the phone, but he refused. Law enforcement spent 45 minutes trying to get Bryant to comply, according to the report.
Bryant eventually exited the home with a second juvenile without incident later that morning. The children were taken from the scene by relatives, the report says.
Deputies detained Bryant, and when they searched him they found two containers of narcotics on his person. The narcotics were later tested and are presumed to contain one gram of fentanyl and one gram of meth, the report says.
Bryant told deputies he had met with the woman, but denied giving her fentanyl, the report says.
Police then brought up a bank transaction from the woman to Bryant that was made on Saturday, the report says.
Bryant told police the bank transaction was for a previous drug deal and he didn’t sell her drugs that day because she had wanted fentanyl, but he only had meth. He also said his DNA could be on the woman’s fentanyl packaging because she had shown it to him. He also claimed to have seen her on Saturday, said that she was alive the last time he saw her, according to the report.
Bryant told police he later learned the woman had died, but did not explain how he found out, the report says.
Later, when deputies searched his home, they found both narcotics and drug paraphernalia, including a glass tray, cut straws, digital scales, a hypodermic needle and several other items.
Deputies also found two baggies of a white crystal substance, which weighed a combined 842.27 grams, or 1.85 pounds, and later tested presumptively positive for meth. They also found Xanax pills that Bryant did not have a prescription for, along with marijuana, according to the report.
They also noted that the home was not suitable for children because there was fecal matter located on the residence’s floors, the report says.
Deputies then spoke with Bryant a second time, after he had been taken to the Johnson County Law Enforcement Center in Franklin. When asked about the large quantities of meth, Bryant admitted to police he was a meth and fentanyl dealer, but also denied any knowledge of the 842.27 grams located in his home, according to the report.
Bryant told deputies he had sold meth three times in the last week, the report says.
He later began to tell police about another customer he had sold drugs to, but when police asked about how many times he had sold drugs to that person, he asked for a lawyer. The interview ended shortly after, according to the report.
The Department of Child Services was called to investigate the situation at Bryant’s home, including exposure to significant amounts of narcotics and drug dealing at the home. The report indicates there was also fecal matter on the residence’s floors, the report says.
Bryant was booked into the Johnson County jail and remains there on $92,000 bond.
