Early-morning ride lands five in county jail

Friday, May 4, 2012

CLOVERDALE -- Suspicious early-morning activity landed four Morgan County residents in the Putnam County Jail Wednesday. Each one now faces felony charges in Putnam Circuit Court.

At approximately 4:20 a.m., Putnam County Sheriff's deputies received a call of suspicious activity behind Motel 6 in Cloverdale. The vehicle was described as an older model Buick that kept driving around the parking lot with its lights out.

Deputies Philip Troyer and T.J. Smith found the car between a box truck and a Dodge Ram pulling a camper.

When the deputies approached the vehicle, the occupants said they were trying to find a place to stay for the night.

The driver was identified as Anthony Wampner, 33, Mooresville. Three passengers were also identified as Daylin A. Jasper, 38, Morgantown; Kelsey Walker, 22, Martinsville; and Dulcie Hart, 30, Martinsville.

The last passenger initially gave a name for which dispatch could find no record. He eventually said, "I'm going to go anyway so I might as well give you my real name," at which time he identified himself as Gary L. Johnston, 45, Martinsville.

The check with dispatch showed that Johnston and Hart were both wanted on warrants out of Morgan County.

Officers also smelled the odor of burnt marijuana. A check of the car revealed glass pipes sticking out of a bag on the dash, tools commonly used in burglaries, knives in the possession of Johnston and Jasper and a bag containing marijuana in Johnston's pocket.

Officers also found two digital scales, rolling papers, a bag containing a crystal substance later found to be methamphetamine, 10 syringes, a spoon and small scissors.

An antique .45 caliber handgun was found in the trunk, which Johnston voluntarily said was his. He also said the tools in the car were his and that he planned to cut the catalytic converter off of the Dodge truck for the platinum inside.

All five were transported to the jail and booked in Wednesday morning, with charges filed in Putnam Circuit Court on Thursday. Each subject faces between one and five total charges.

Johnston is charged with three Class D felonies, possession of methamphetamine, unlawful possession of a syringe and possession of marijuana; and two Class A misdemeanors, carrying a handgun without a license and false informing.

Jasper and Wampner each face Class D felony possession of methamphetamine and Class A misdemeanor possession of paraphernalia.

Hart is charged with Class D felony unlawful possession of a syringe and Class A misdemeanor possession of paraphernalia.

Hart faces a single Class D felony, possession of methamphetamine.

No further information on court dates is available at this time.

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  • Where o where were the cloverdale police?

    -- Posted by captain crunch on Fri, May 4, 2012, at 12:32 PM
  • There are not enough Cloverdale officers to cover every shift every day - perhaps you can volunteer to become a reserve officer and help them?

    -- Posted by Geologist on Sat, May 5, 2012, at 8:02 AM
  • FYI VolFF

    CPD is paying 5 Part Time officers to patrol Cloverdale, where r they??? Not to mention 2 full time cops plus the so called Town Marshal and his never seen recently purchased unmarked SUV!

    This council needs to wake up! Paying for police coverage that the residents are not receiving from this rag tag police department, what a joke!

    Always the state police and sheriff's dept covering this town!

    -- Posted by cowgirl46135 on Sat, May 5, 2012, at 12:40 PM
  • Volunteer FF..... I volunteer my time in other areas to the community...and have done so for many years. IF you are indeed a volunteer fire fighter, then I applaud you and anyone else that is willing to give their time freely. If you are a resident and taxpayer of cloverdale, then you too should question the hours the officers are working. Are they being paid for hours worked or hours reported? The council is clueless.

    -- Posted by captain crunch on Sat, May 5, 2012, at 7:21 PM
  • I know some of them personally and hear them on the police radio frequently. They are out there, there just aren't enough of them to be everywhere at every hour. The ones who serve, do their jobs well. We need more.

    -- Posted by Geologist on Sun, May 6, 2012, at 9:55 AM
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