MOUNTAIN PARKWAY – Three people from Pike County were arrested on drug trafficking charges after they were stopped in a traffic safety checkpoint in Magoffin County last Thursday.
According to the arrest citations, Kentucky State Police Trooper D. Saylor stated he was conducting a traffic safety checkpoint the night of April 13 on the Mountain Parkway near Salyersville, when a Nissan Sentra approached, with the driver unable to locate their insurance card and proof of registration.
The troopers allowed the driver, identified as Nicholas Coleman, 53, of Elkhorn City, KY, to pull off to the side of the road so he could look for those items, but while doing so, Trooper Saylor observed a loaded syringe in the passenger floorboard.
The passenger in the front seat was asked to exit the vehicle and police were able to identify him as Harley Tubbs, 23, of Sidney, KY, who told law enforcement the loaded needle was his and that it was filled with suboxone, according to the citations.
At this time, Coleman consented to a search of the vehicle. Under Coleman’s seat police found a clear plastic bag with an estimated half-ounce of a brown, powder substance, believed to be heroin and fentanyl, according to the police reports.
When law enforcement searched the trunk, they reportedly found a shoe box containing a large plastic bag, with an estimated one pound of a crystal rock-like substance, believed to be methamphetamine. Neither Coleman nor Tubbs claimed to have any knowledge of the substance and denied ownership.
The passenger in the backseat, identified as Tiffany Roberts, 26, of Virgie, KY, also denied having any knowledge or ownership of the substance.
Police noted in the citation that this was a “substantial amount of suspected methamphetamine and is significantly more than the usual user amount,” resulting in law enforcement to believe “that all parties were knowingly participating in the trafficking of methamphetamine.”
All three occupants of the car were taken into custody and transported to the Big Sandy Regional Detention Center, where they remain at press time. Their charges are as follows:
Nicholas Coleman is charged with trafficking in a controlled substance, first degree first offense (less than two grams methamphetamine); failure to produce insurance card; and no registration receipt.
Harley Tubbs is charged with trafficking in a controlled substance, first degree first offense (less than two grams methamphetamine); and possession of a controlled substance, first degree, first offense (heroin).
Tiffany Roberts is charged with trafficking in a controlled substance, first degree first offense (less than two grams methamphetamine).
All drug items were taken into evidence and sent to KSP’s lab for drug identification, with this case still under investigation, according to the arrest citation.
Editor’s Note: The indictment or charge of a person by a grand jury or otherwise is an accusation only and that person is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
