Laundry basket leads to drug charge

A Commerce man faces a felony drug charge, thanks to a plastic laundry hamper left on a roadside.

A Commerce police officer was on patrol when he noticed a yellow laundry hamper by the side of Cedar Drive Extension, according to the arrest report. Since the basket contained clothing, the officer backed up to check it out, noticing as he did a vehicle parked at an abandoned house and a black male standing by it.

The officer called for the man to come to him, but the man ran. The officer gave chase, but could not find the suspect; however he recognized him as Brandon Dewayne Maddox, 29, of 964 G W Wilson Road, Nicholson. As the suspect made his getaway, he dropped a cell phone, which the officer recovered, according to the incident report.

A witness told the officer that the vehicle belonged to Maddox’s wife.

The officer went back to the vehicle, which had an open trunk, but was otherwise locked. Shortly thereafter, the arrest report said, Maddox’s wife arrived. She told the officer that the vehicle had been parked at her house all day and no one had permission to use it. She also told police that her son, who was home all day, saw a black male take the vehicle.

The officer showed her the phone and asked her if she recognized it, and she told him it was in her name but belonged to her husband. The officer pointed out that a picture on the phone showed her and the suspect, Maddox.

The report said the woman began loudly demanding to take possession of her car, at which point the officer advised her it was being impounded and recommended that she leave the scene.

The next day, armed with a warrant, police searched the vehicle, but not before the suspect’s wife arrived and said she would “take full responsibility for anything in the vehicle.” But when police found a plastic bag with a “large amount of marijuana” packaged in smaller baggies and a set of digital scales with marijuana residue, the woman told police that she did not wish to take responsibility for everything found in the vehicle.

The report did not reveal the circumstances by which Maddox was arrested, but he was charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, obstruction of officers and possession of tools for the commission of a crime.

For a full listing of all the Commerce Police Department arrests over the past week, see the Feb. 27 edition of The Commerce News.