CROSSVILLE, Ill. - A meth arrest Thursday in the White County village of Crossville shows that despite the insistence by reporting agencies that heroin and opiates are overtaking meth's popularity, meth busts are still aplenty in southern Illinois.
White County Sheriff Doug Maier reports that Deputy Lucas, working yesterday (Thursday, March 21) for the Crossville Police Department, was on patrol when at approximately 9:24 p.m., he viewed a 2000 silver Ford Mustang turn on to Hamill Street from Rudolph Street. The plate, Lucas reported, came back to Sarah Taylor, whom Lucas knew to be wanted on a theft warrant out of Edwards County.
Taylor pulled into a private drive in the 400 block of Hamill Street and Lucas initiated a traffic stop at that point.
Lucas noted that Taylor was the only person in the vehicle when he went to speak with her, and he asked her to step out of the car, advising her of the Theft warrant, which is on a misdemeanor charge. After Taylor was cuffed and searched, Lucas searched the immediate area where she'd been sitting in the car. He viewed a purse sitting in the front passenger seat and looked into it, observing it contained a black makeup bag. Inside the bag, Lucas could view two baggies which contained three corner baggies with what appeared to be crystal meth in them. Also in the bag was a cut straw with white powder residue, three pipe pokers, and a torch lighter.
Taylor was escorted to the squad and placed in the back of it, handcuffed in front because she'd told Lucas she was claustrophobic and he made an effort to alleviate her anxiety in this way.
Continuing the search of Taylor's vehicle, Lucas located a glass bong and a glass pipe in the back seat on the driver's side. The bong and pipe, he reported, were wrapped in paper towels inside a Walmart sack. Both had white powder residue and the pipe also had burnt markings consistent with smoking meth. An open box of baggies was also located in the back seat. In the trunk, Lucas located a small baggy with white residue, this inside of a backpack.
He collected Taylor's purse, the suspected meth and meth paraphernalia and placed it in the squad, calling a tow truck for her Mustang. She was taken to the White County Jail and processed. One of the baggies containing the crystallized rock substance and it tested positive for meth. The inside of the glass pipe also field-tested positive for meth.
Bond on the Theft warrant, which was issued out of Edwards County, was set at $150. However, Taylor was still incarcerated this morning, as she has been additionally charged with Possession of Meth, Use Prohibited (the Mustang), and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia.