McCORDSVILLE — A driver who failed to make a proper lane change ended up getting arrested on a felony drug charge late last week.
Jamie L. Epeards, 42, 5000 block of East 21st Street, Indianapolis, was arrested and charged with a Level 4 felony count of possession of methamphetamine. She also was charged with driving while suspended and possession of paraphernalia, which are misdemeanors.
The felony count carries a sentence of up to 12 years in prison.
According to an affidavit, on Thursday, Jan. 2, an officer with the McCordsville Police Department noticed a car traveling westbound on West Broadway that failed to make a proper lane change. When he ran the license plate on the vehicle, the officer discovered the registered owner, Epeards, had a suspended license.
After she was stopped, Epeards admitted her driver’s license was suspended, but she failed to tell the officer she was wanted on a warrant in Marion County, where she has been identified as a habitual traffic violator.
A search of her vehicle turned up pieces of a broken glass smoking pipe on the front console of the car, the affidavit said. Police also found a zipped bag with a metal spoon and another glass smoking pipe. Epeards then told the officers she smoked crack, the affidavit said.
Officers decided to bring in a canine officer, Mattis, who detected the scent of drugs in the car, the affidavit said.
A further search found another black zippered bag containing a torn up steel wool pad, which is commonly used as a filter for smoking crack cocaine, the affidavit said.
Inside the bag officials found a digital scale. They also found a wallet on the back seat of the car with a clear plastic bag inside. That’s where officers found a large amount of a translucent rock-like substance that field tested positive for methamphetamine, the affidavit said.
Epeards later told officials she didn’t think it was crack and that she had found the bag outside of her crack dealer’s house, the affidavit said.
Epeards was arrested and transported to the Hancock County Jail, where she is currently located. She made an initial appearance in Hancock County Superior Court 1 on Friday, Jan. 3. Epeards is scheduled to have a pretrial conference on Feb. 5.
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