Gadsden police charge two following tip on drug sales

Gadsden police report that Two people were arrested and a child was placed with the Department of Human Resources early Wednesday morning after officers followed up on observations and information received about drug activity at a Tuscaloosa Avenue residence.

Police say an officer was riding through the Jacksonville Court housing community about 12:30 a.m. when he saw a man standing at the passenger side of a vehicle in the parking bay. The officer turned onto the alley, planning to make contact with the man. As he got closer, the man went inside an apartment.

Days earlier, police had received a tip that an individual was selling drugs out of that apartment. The officer called his partner to identify the man, and it was determined that the 39-year-old was not on the housing authority occupancy list for the residence. The officer watched the man make a couple of trips back and forth from the vehicle to the apartment, taking a baby inside the apartment on his last trip.

One officer knocked on the apartment door while the other went to the back.

As soon as the apartment's 19-year-old female resident opened the door, there was an “overwhelming smell of raw marijuana,” according to the police report. The man officers had observed went to the toilet and began flushing it. One of the officers knocked on the bathroom door and told him to step out.

When officers patted the man down, they found the keys to the vehicle. There was a strong smell of marijuana from the vehicle, according to the report, and officers saw a plant-like substance in the back bumper area of the vehicle near the lip of the trunk. After they popped the trunk, they also found a plant-like substance there.

One officer noticed a lump in the front passenger side floor mat and found a Glock handgun under the mat. The officers discovered the gun had been reported stolen in Attalla. The female told police the gun was hers, that she had gotten it from a “crack head.”

Officers found digital scales with what looked like marijuana residue and a fully loaded magazine for the Glock in the apartment.

Both subjects were arrested in connection with the stolen gun and officers called DHR to take custody of the child.