By Bonnie Culverhouse
Two local persons have been arrested in Dixie Inn on multiple drug and firearm charges.
Ebony Lanitta Gooding, 33, of the 200 block of Camp St., Minden, was arrested for possession of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia and on a warrant through MPD for failure to appear.
LeCarlo Deomiwaun Washington, 37, of the 100 block of Millard Fuller St., Minden, was arrested by WPSO for possession of marijuana, methamphetamine, Klonopin, drug paraphernalia and illegal carrying of weapons in the presence of narcotics.
Sheriff Jason Parker said around 10 p.m. Sunday deputies Richard Mitchell, Michael Chanler and Michael Dickey detained a black vehicle at a truck stop in Dixie Inn on a routine traffic stop.
“They observed the vehicle did not have a working headlight on the driver’s side,” Parker said. “Another officer on the scene advised there was a firearm under the driver’s seat within arms reach of Washington, who was driving the vehicle.”
Deputies removed Washington from the vehicle and reportedly removed a Hi-point® handgun from under the seat.
“Gooding, the passenger, reached into a black bag while trying to locate vehicle information,” said the sheriff. “She reached behind the driver’s seat and deputies observed a magazine with ammunition.”
According to the report, one of the deputies removed the bag for officer safety and began to check it.
“The deputy noticed there was an odor of suspected marijuana coming from the bag,” Parker said. “He opened a smaller green bag within that one and located three bags of a green leafy substance that weighed approximately 30.2 grams.”
Inside the green bag, the deputy reportedly located a pill bottle containing suspected methamphetamine weighing approximately 1.6 grams, a bag containing 9 pills of suspected Klonopin and several empty bags. Also located were a scale and more than $300 in assorted bills.
Gooding told the deputies there was a pipe in her purse.
“They located a small black cloth containing a glass pipe with a crystal-like substance inside,” the sheriff said. “There were burn marks on it, and Gooding admitted it was a ‘meth’ pipe, but they both used it. There was also suspected methamphetamine loose inside the bag.”
The sheriff said Gooding also had an active warrant for failure to appear (in court) through Minden Police.
This information has been provided by a law enforcement agency as public information. Persons named as suspects in a criminal investigation, or arrested and charged with a crime, have not been convicted of any criminal offense and are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
