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Mike Dunne
Rex Thompson

Two Men Busted For Drying Marijuana, Right Under Cop's Nose

Story by John Pless on Fri, Oct 25th 2002 (5:23 PM)

You've probably heard some "dumb criminal" stories, but here's one that might top them all. Two men have been arrested on possession of marijuana charges, and you won't believe how they got caught.


Chattanooga Police tell us two men were driving along Rossville Boulevard with two hefty sacks of marijuana. It needed to be dried out.

They had what they thought was a brilliant idea; to pull into the Fast Food and Fuel convenience store at the intersection with 28th Street because they have a microwave oven inside.

That was about 7:30 Friday morning, about the time an officer's patrol car was parked outside. You would think, RED-FLAG! Don't dry out your pot here.

But police say Rudy Raines went inside, saw Officer David Ashley, spoke to him for a moment, then went right over to the microwave oven. And yes, he put his stash into the oven, turned up the heat, and filled the store with the aroma of marijuana.

Officer Tetzel Tillery, who also came to the scene, says "shortly afterward the clerk and officer Ashley saw the suspect quickly pull the sack out of the microwave. Officer Ashley went up to him and asked what he was doing, and saw he had a large bag of marijuana, and admitted that he was trying to dry out the marijuana."

Officer Ashley went to Rain's car which was parked at a gas pump, and found more pot laying in plain view near the gear shift on the car's console.

He also found a second man, William King, asleep in the pasenger seat. When Ashley woke King up and questioned him about the marijuana, King said he didn't know anything about it.

Needless to say, both men were arrested. About a pound of marijuana was recovered in total, some of it in smaller individual sacks. Both men are charged with felony posession of marijuana with intent to distribute.

Rains told Officer Ashely he and Mr. King were on the way to a drug rahabilitation clinic. It's not clear whether they are patients, or were meeting with other people to sell or share the pot.