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ELKINS -- A Chenoweth Creek Road man is behind bars and accused of selling drugs from his vehicle behind the 4 Seasons Motel in Elkins.
Melvin Leslie Reese, 58, is being charged with possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance. He is currently lodged in the Tygart Valley Regional Jail on a $35,000 cash-only bond set by Randolph County Magistrate Ben Shepler.
According to the criminal complaint, filed by Elkins Police Department Patrolman J.J. White, the officer was on routine patrol when he saw a Jeep Renegade with its lights on behind the 4 Seasons Motel on North Avenue in Elkins.
"I then observed multiple people separately walk up to the driver of the vehicle and walk away after a short period of time," White writes in the complaint, adding that he made contact with Reese, as Elkins Police Department Patrolman First Class D.T. Sayre arrived on scene. The officers observed a needle on the driver's floorboard, as well as small baggies consistent with drug use. The officers also noticed an odd-looking soda can sitting in the center cup holder.
"I then asked the defendant if he would hand me the can, to which he agreed," White writes in the complaint. "I then was able to pull the lid off the can and observed a hollow inside with a pill container within it commonly used to contain and conceal illegal narcotics."
According to the complaint, while Reese was being searched, he informed the officers that he had a firearm in the waistband of his pants. The officer located a Zastava 9mm handgun loaded with a round in the chamber.
Officers also found $178 and a baggie with a white-crystal like substance consistent with methamphetamine, which Reese told officers was "meth," the complaint states.
While searching the vehicle, officers located a large digital scale coated in a white powder residue commonly used to weigh narcotics for sale, as well as a bag of unused insulin needles and two cellphones.
Dawson's Towing took possession of the vehicle. Reese was transported to to the Elkins Police Department for processing and then to Tygart Valley Regional Jail.