Rhea County detectives arrested a Dayton Mountain man with a virtual pharmacy of illegal drugs.
Mike Bice, narcotics investigator with the Rhea County Sheriff’s Department, said he received information Friday morning that Travis Keith Swafford, 26, of Summer City Road on Dayton Mountain, was allegedly attempting to sell illegal drugs in Dayton.
Bice and Chief Deputy John Argo eventually found Swafford at Jack’s Car Wash at the intersection of Rhea County Highway and Blythes Ferry Road at about 12:30 p.m. They spotted Swafford sitting in a GMC 1500 pickup truck in one of the car wash stalls.
While Argo approached the truck, Bice detained two men he said he thought may have been involved in an illegal drug transaction. The men eventually gave Bice consent to search them, but he didn’t find any contraband on them and let the two men go.
Meanwhile, Argo had more success. He told Swafford the officers had reason to believe he was in possession of illegal drugs and asked him for permission to search his truck. Swafford gave Argo verbal permission to search the truck and then proceeded to hand over a plastic bag containing a drug smorgasbord, according to Bice.
“He had a quarter bag of marijuana, five to 10 grams of ice and several hydrocodone and Valium pills,” Bice said. “He was like a walking drugstore.”
A quarter bag contains $25 worth of marijuana. Ice is the street name for a crystallized form of methamphetamine.
Bice placed Swafford under arrest and charged him with possession of a Schedule II controlled substance for resale (ice—crystal methamphetamine), possession of Schedule III controlled substances (hydrocodone and Valium) and possession of a marijuana.
Swafford has a history of drug-related arrests, according to Bice.
Swafford is being held in the Rhea County Jail without bail pending his arraignment in Rhea County General Sessions Court.
John Carpenter can be reached at jcarpenter@xtn.net.