OC Sheriff’s Office makes Drug Arrests

The Oconee County Sheriff’s Office has made drug arrests during normal road patrol and enforcement operations.  The first arrest occurred during the afternoon of July 11^th.  According to deputies, a posted traffic check point was being conducted on Mountain Road at the intersection with Clearmont Road.  A deputy at the checkpoint heard a vehicle come to a screeching halt on the Plant Road side of Mountain Road and observed a dark colored four door car skidding to a stop and sitting across four lanes of traffic, whereupon a light blue Mustang swerved to avoid hitting the vehicle in the middle of the road.  After the driver squealed the tires in putting the vehicle in reverse, the deputy got into a marked Tahoe and activated the blue lights as he went in the direction of the vehicle.  After rounding the turn on Mountain Road, the deputy noticed the vehicle backed into a ditch at the Plant Road intersection with the subject still behind the wheel.  After the deputy exited his vehicle, he reportedly saw the subject put an unknown substance in his mouth with his left hand and then take a drink of something with his right hand.  The subject was removed from his vehicle and was asked by the deputy to spit out what he appeared to have swallowed.  The subject reportedly spit out a pill, which he told the deputy was Xanax.  The subject was then placed into custody and the evidence was retrieved.  Upon further investigation, it was determined that the subject, 22-year-old Nathan Charles Alexander of 112 Harrys Drive in Westminster, was driving with a suspended license.  According to the incident report, Alexander was also charged with reckless driving and driving under suspension more than the first.  He was also given a courtesy summons for faulty equipment due to slick tires.  A warrant charges Alexander with possession of Xanax, a schedule three substance “without the authority to do so.”  The warrant lists the address for Alexander as 480 North Horseshoe Bridge Road in Westminster.  Alexander was booked into the Oconee County Detention Center.  The second arrests occurred Thursday afternoon, as a deputy was driving down Highway 11 near West Spearman Road and observed a blue Subaru Impreza behind him that was swerving over the yellow lines in the center of the road.  The vehicle reportedly turned left on West Spearman Road, whereupon the deputy pulled behind the vehicle and observed the vehicle cross the yellow line twice and get close to the line several more times.  A vehicle stop then ensued on West Spearman Road near the intersection with Little Choesteoa Road.  The deputy approached the driver side of the vehicle, where he noticed the driver, identified as Christine Gail Borden, sweating and shaking.  Upon advising her as to the reason for the stop, Borden reportedly told the deputy that she was swerving due to looking at the GPS in her lap.  Another individual, identified as Clayton David Kerns III, in the passenger side in the vehicle, also appeared to be nervous as well. The deputy asked Borden if there was anything illegal in the vehicle, in which she replied no.  Borden was then asked to step outside the vehicle, whereupon her vehicle documents and subject ids were checked.  After requesting additional assistance, a K-9 unit arrived on the scene.  As the deputy was writing a written warning, the K-9 detected possible contraband in the vehicle after walking around the vehicle.  Upon advising Borden that there the K-9 detected possible contraband in the vehicle, Borden reportedly admitted that that was some marijuana in the vehicle in a blue bag in the front seat.  The passenger in the vehicle, Kerns, was then asked to step out of the vehicle.  One of the deputies retrieved the bag, where reportedly inside one of the deputies found a red plastic container with 4.8 grams of what appeared to be marijuana, plus a plastic bag that contained 1.2 grams of what also was believed to be marijuana.  Also found in the bag was a plastic bag containing 2.8 grams of what appeared to be ecstasy, a brown plastic container containing five pills, which were identified as lortab and one pill identified as oxycodone, plus other drug paraphernalia.  While checking the contents of the bag, Kerns admitted that the bag contained Ecstasy and Marijuana.  According to the incident report, 23-year-old Kerns and 28-year-old Borden, both from West Virginia, were placed under arrest for possession of marijuana, possession of ecstasy, possession of lortab and possession of a schedule II drug.  They were transported to the Oconee County Detention Center where they were placed on Temporary Custody Orders and their vehicle was towed away from the scene.  Borden was booked into the Oconee County Detention Center around 1:35pm Thursday afternoon and Kerns was booked into the Detention Center around 2:13pm Thursday afternoon. The third arrest occurred around 12:44am Friday morning, where a deputy on routine patrol observed a green Jeep Cherokee driving west on West-Oak Highway with no rear tail lights.  A traffic stop ensued on West-Oak Highway at the intersection of Coneross Point Drive.  The deputy spoke to the driver and other passengers in the vehicle and explained the purpose of why the vehicle was stopped.  The driver was then asked to step out of the vehicle and due to the nervous actions of the individuals in the vehicle, the deputy asked the driver, a female, for consent to search her vehicle.  Upon consent being given and during the course of a conversation between the deputy and the driver, deputies noticed a passenger in the rear driver’s seat perform movements with the appearance that the passenger could be attempting to conceal something.  The passenger, identified as Jerry Lynn Wooten, was asked to exit the vehicle, along with the other passengers.  A search of the vehicle began, upon which in the rear driver side passenger seat, a deputy found a pill bottle stuffed between the seat and the floor with name Jerry Wooten on the bottle.  Inside the pill bottle, deputies found a baggie containing a white crystal like substance, plus pills which deputies identified as Alprazolam, Clonazepam, and Oxycodone, which the bottle had a prescription for.  Wooten did not state that he had a prescription for the Alprazolam and Clonazepam, and told deputies that that the bottle did not belong to him.  He later stated that all he had in the bottle was his pills, but he did not know what the white crystal like substance was.  Deputies arrested 52-year-old Jerry Wooten of 132 Fern Drive in Westminster for possession of meth, and two counts of a possession of a controlled substance.  He was transported to the Oconee County Detention Center, where he booked into the detention center around 2:01am Friday morning.  The driver of the vehicle was given a courtesy summons for no tail lights.