MOUNTAIN PARKWAY – Two Floyd County women were arrested early Friday morning on charges related to alleged methamphetamine trafficking.
According to the arrest citation, Kentucky State Police conducted a traffic safety check point on the Mountain Parkway near the 70-mile marker the night of May 29, when just before midnight a silver passenger car entered the check point.
The driver, identified as Jodi Michelle Nichols, 48, of Dana, Kentucky, could not provide a valid proof of insurance, so she was asked to pull off to the side of the road, when police discovered her license was suspended.
Additionally, the right front passenger, identified as Candice L. Jarrell, 43, also of Dana, KY, had one active arrest warrant from Floyd County on drug-related charges stemming from a grand jury indictment issued in March.
Nichols reportedly consented to a search of the vehicle and Jarrell stated she had Xanax, a controlled substance she did not have a prescription for, in her purse.
Police asked Jarrell to identify which items in the car were hers, claiming her purse and shower bag in the passenger floorboard. Inside the shower bag KSP found approximately 1 ounce of suspected methamphetamine, packaged in a transparent sandwich bag. More methamphetamine was found inside an open bag of coffee inside the same shower bag, according to the arrest citation.
Jarrell was read the Miranda Warning, after which she admitted the drugs inside her bag belonged to her. Additionally, police found the Xanax inside Jarrell’s pink flower change purse, according to the police report.
Inside Nichols purse police found approximately 7ounces of suspected methamphetamine, packaged inside a large transparent baggie. Two glass pipes were found in the same black container the suspected methamphetamine was found in. After she was read the Miranda Warning, Nichols admitted to police to possessing and transporting the large quantity of drugs, according to the arrest citation.
Given the combined weight of the methamphetamine totaling one-half pound, KSP believed both women are actively involved in drug trafficking, according to the citation.
Both women were arrested and transported to the Big Sandy Regional Detention Center in the early morning hours of May 30, with Nichols released the next day and Jarrell still remains at the jail at press time, each charged as follows:
– Jodi Nichols is charged with operating on a suspended or revoked operator’s license; trafficking in a controlled substance, first degree, first offense (greater than or equal to 2 grams methamphetamine); and buying or possessing drug paraphernalia.
– Candice Jarrell is charged with trafficking in a controlled substance, first degree, first offense (greater than or equal to 2 grams methamphetamine); and buying or possessing drug paraphernalia; as well as is still facing the charges of tampering with physical evidence; first-degree possession of a controlled substance, first offense (methamphetamine); first-degree possession of a controlled substance (fentanyl); and failure to appear.
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.
