A pair of South Carolina men were arrested April 30 when a Greene County deputy discovered 6.5 pounds of marijuana in their vehicle.
Preston Artavious McCalister and Brendon Tahj Barton, both of Aiken, South Carolina, face charges of possession of marijuana with intent to distribute.
According to reports, Deputy Leo Sierra initiated a traffic stop on a black Ford Taurus at around 9 p.m. on I-20 eastbound near milepost 137 for a window tint violation and made contact with the driver, later identified as McCalister.
According to Sierra, the car smelled like cologne, and the driver appeared to be very nervous.
When McCalister was asked about the purpose of his trip, he first said he was on his way to visit his sister, and then said he going to his grandfather’s house in Grovetown after spending a few hours visiting his sister in Atlanta.
McCalister said he did not have any marijuana or anything illegal in the vehicle, but refused to consent to a search of the car. He also wouldn’t allow a free air sniff from Sierra’s K-9 partner, Griff. Sierra then asked Barton to exit the vehicle, and asked him about the purpose of the trip. He said they went to Atlanta for a few hours to hang out and grab some food, but didn’t visit anyone in particular.
At that point, Sierra deployed Griff to conduct a detailed open-air sniff around the vehicle.
According to the report, Griff began to show a change of behavior around the seam of the vehicle’s trunk, breathing heavily and simultaneously waving his tail as his ears became pointy, all signs of a positive alert.
Sierra asked McCalister again if there were any illegal drugs in the vehicle, and he once again said no.
A search of the trunk revealed two backpacks containing multiple plastic bags of marijuana, individually packaged. Two other black plastic bags were also found that contained four boxes filled with marijuana, for a total of 6.5 pounds.
McCalister had $900 cash on him, and Barton had $3,000 cash.
Both subjects were arrested and transported to the Greene County Jail.
Chancey’s Towing and Wrecker Service recovered the vehicle. All items recovered at the scene were turned into evidence for further processing.