Sheriff’s deputies seized more than a pound of marijuana, 990 Xanax doses and two guns while executing a search warrant on a house north of Frederick earlier this week, according to charging documents.
A warrant was secured by Frederick County sheriff’s deputies to search one room of a house in the 10700 block of Powell Road sometime after 6 p.m. Tuesday when the owners of the house called 911 to report possible illegal drug activity in the residence, according to documents filed Wednesday morning in Frederick County District Court.
The owners, who also live in the house, said they became suspicious of their tenant, 34-year-old Justin Godfrey Mitchell, after he received several suspicious packages in the mail and they smelled marijuana coming from the room Mitchell rented from them, according to the documents.
While neither a sheriff’s office spokesman nor Nanci Hamm, a deputy state’s attorney for Frederick County, could comment on the terms of Mitchell’s lease, the actions of the landlords in searching for evidence before they called 911 should not affect the criminal case against Mitchell.
“The only time that that becomes an issue is if [the landlords] do it at the direction of the police, because that would technically be a state or government action,” Hamm said, referring to the landlords’ decision to enter Mitchell’s apartment before informing the sheriff’s office.
“There may be some civil case between the landlord and the tenant if the landlord is found to have violated a lease or other agreement, but that doesn’t affect our case,” Hamm said. “Fourth Amendment protections only apply if it’s a state action.”
Mitchell was spotted by another deputy and pulled over in the parking lot of a bar while deputies back at the house were waiting for a search warrant from a judge to search his room.
A police dog was brought in to scan Mitchell’s car, a black Toyota Corolla, and a search turned up several hypodermic needles, prescription pills and $2,243 in cash found in Mitchell’s wallet, the documents state.
Back at the house, deputies recovered more drugs and other evidence from Mitchell’s room, including a total of 793.9 grams — about 1.75 pounds — of marijuana, 990 Xanax doses, a loaded 9 mm Glock 19 handgun and a pistol-grip Mossberg shotgun, among other paraphernalia, the documents state.
During their search of Mitchell’s room, deputies recovered several documents from the Canada Border Services Agency indicating that that agency had seized several packages addressed to Mitchell that were found to contain marijuana.
Maj. Tim Clarke, a spokesman for the sheriff’s office, said the agency regularly cooperates with other agencies to follow up on investigations opened in Frederick County. Clarke was not aware of any other forthcoming arrests in Mitchell’s case as of Wednesday.
Mitchell remained held without bail in the Frederick County Adult Detention Center on Wednesday afternoon, according to online court records.
credit:fredericknewspost.com
