1000 x 90

Local Law Enforcement Team Claims a Victory with Major Meth Arrests

During the evening hours of Thursday, June 13, 2019, a team of local law enforcement agencies ended an ongoing investigation into a significantly large source of methamphetamine for western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee. Two arrests were made, and a large amount of methamphetamine was seized by police.

“We are very pleased about the cooperation between law enforcement agencies in the county. Unfortunately, meth is still the number one drug of choice in our county and our joint efforts with the Bonne Police Department and other law enforcement partners is making a vast improvement in the safety of our community.”– L.D. Hagaman, Watauga County Sheriff.

Local law enforcement is always working to reduce to flow of methamphetamine in our area. Many times, information learned in seemingly unrelated investigations lead investigators to identify common connections and new sources of illegal drugs. This is the case in this situation. These agencies partnered together and used collective intelligence to make this investigation a success. The law enforcement agencies that worked together, in this case, are the Watauga County Sheriff’s Office, Boone Police Department, Johnson County Sheriff’s Office (TN) and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI). The United States Department of Homeland Security are also involved in this investigation.

“We see the damage meth causes individuals, families and our communities. This is what makes our officers so willing to work the long hours it takes to make cases like this. This is a great example of teamwork between agencies.“ – Dana Crawford, Chief of Police.

On Thursday, June 13, 2019, this team of local law enforcement officers conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle suspected of trafficking a large amount of methamphetamine. During this stop, a narcotics detection canine was used to locate any illegal drugs. K-9 Kyra alerted on the odor of a controlled substance and officers searched the vehicle. Officers located over 3.5 pounds of crystal methamphetamine. This amount of meth has a street value in Boone of over $72,000. A small amount of ecstasy was also located inside the vehicle. Two arrests were made. The identity of the arrested individuals is listed below.

The suspects in this investigation are:

Cody Ryan Oaks, 30, of 286 Clay Hodges Road, Boone

Christy Jade Boone, 32, of 221 Joe Shoemaker Road, Vilas

Each of these individuals were charged with the following charges:

1 Count – Felony Trafficking Methamphetamine by Possession.

1 Count – Felony Trafficking Methamphetamine by Transportation.

1 Count – Felony Maintaining a Vehicle to Keep a Controlled Substance.

These two suspects are charged with the listed crimes and are scheduled to appear in Watauga District Count court on July 22, 2019. They were each lodged in the Watauga County Jail under a $250,000 secured bond.