Meth found in purse, cowboy boot results in two arrests

FROM IDS REPORTS

A three-month drug investigation resulted in two separate methamphetamine-related arrests late Monday and early Tuesday after crystal-like substances were found in a purse and a cowboy boot.

Two Spencer, Ind., residents, Sandra Preston-Light, 46, and Scott Alan Miller, 42, are currently booked at the Monroe County Jail. Preston-Light is facing preliminary charges of dealing in methamphetamine with bond set at $60,000 surety and $1,000 cash. Miller faces preliminary charges of dealing in methamphetamine with bond set at $50,000 surety and $500 cash.

As part of an ongoing drug investigation that began in early February, a Bloomington Police Department detective set up surveillance Monday after a confidential informant advised him methamphetamine could be purchased at a west-side residence, BPD Sgt. Joseph Crider said.

Crider said Preston-Light had allegedly tried to deliver methamphetamine on two previous occasions, once on Feb. 14 and again March 7.

After surveillance had been established at the residence, the detective observed Preston-Light leave the residence and get into a car, Crider said. The detective followed the car to a location on the west side of Monroe County, where he stopped
Preston-Light shortly after 9 p.m. The detective detained Preston-Light from her vehicle for an interview about the two prior methamphetamine-related incidents. During a search, the detective found a clear, plastic bag with one crystal-like substance, which the detective believed to be methamphetamine, inside her purse.

Preston-Light was then arrested and preliminarily charged with attempt to deal in methamphetamine, Crider said. She later admitted she had been dealing methamphetamine in the Bloomington area for several months.

That same evening, the detective observed Miller pull up to the driveway of the west-side residence he had initially seen Preston-Light leave. Miller exited his maroon truck, and the detective believed Miller might have been there to purchase narcotics, Crider said. Miller was inside the residence for a brief time and then left in his vehicle.

The detective, driving an unmarked squad car, observed Miller fail to use a turn signal and stopped the vehicle near the intersection of North Curry Pike and West Vernal Pike. The detective asked Miller if there was anything illegal inside the car, and Miller told the detective he had paraphernalia for methamphetamine consumption in the passenger compartment of his vehicle, Crider said.

During a pat search for weapons, the detective felt a hard item in Miller’s right cowboy boot, at which point Miller told the detective he had about 14 grams of methamphetamine concealed in the boot.

Miller was consequently arrested early Tuesday morning for possession of methamphetamine with the intention to distribute, Crider said.

— Kirsten Clark