After reviewing information on three controlled buys of marijuana, the 16th District Prosecuting Attorney’s Office is charging an Independence County couple with a variety of felony counts.
Woodrow Stanley Fowler, Jr., 22, and his girlfriend, Halle Morgan McTigue, 19, were taken into custody on April 9 and placed in the Independence County Jail after authorities made a third controlled purchase.
The three controlled buys were apparently set up after authorities received numerous complaints over an extended period of time that Fowler, Jr., was allegedly selling large amounts of marijuana to people — including several college students, info from the Independence County Circuit Court noted.
Dillon Sallas, a narcotics investigator with the Batesville Police Department, set up the buys, paying the suspect $200 for each buy of one ounce of marijuana, according to the court documents. The first buy was March 1, the second buy was March 6, and the third buy was the one made on April 9, according to Sallas.
The buys were apparently set up through the social media app, Snapchat. One of the principal features of Snapchat is that pictures and messages are usually only available for a short time before they become inaccessible.
After the third buy, authorities received a warrant and searched Fowler’s Boyd Street residence, just off Highway 25 West, where they found a growing and selling operation along with several items of drug paraphernalia, and a “sizeable” amount of processed marijuana, packaged to sell, the court documents note.
Prosecuting Attorney Eric Hance has charged Fowler with 11 felony drug counts and McTigue with five felony counts.
Among the counts made in the case: manufacturing marijuana, possession of marijuana with the purpose to deliver, delivery or sale of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, and maintaining a drug premises. Fowler is also subject to three counts of enhanced penalties for the sale of a narcotic near a public school bus stop.
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