Eagle eye of officer on patrol leads to drug trafficking bust of out-of-towners

Aarik Long, The Mountaineer, Waynesville, N.C.
·2 min read
1

Jun. 26—A traffic stop in the Dellwood area along U.S. 19 led to five drug trafficking-related arrests last week, with all five suspects being from out of town.

Waynesville Police Sgt. Jason Reynolds noticed some suspicious activity from a vehicle while watching traffic around 7:30 p.m. last Wednesday. Reynolds ran the tag and discovered it was revoked, giving the officer probable cause to pull the vehicle over.

The stop had not been the result of a prior investigation by the department, but rather an officer noticing something out of the ordinary and taking action, said Waynesville Assistant Police Chief Brandon Gilmore said. The stop was in Waynesville's jurisdiction between Maggie Valley and Lake Junaluska.

The driver of the vehicle also had a revoked license. Reynolds called in K-9 support to search the vehicle for drugs, and as Reynolds was in the process of writing citations, the K-9 alerted to a substance inside the car.

The search turned up 25.6 grams of fentanyl, 13.6 grams of cocaine and 101.5 grams of methamphetamine.

"The officers involved in the tactical unit spend a tremendous amount of time trying to address the drug abuse issues within the community of Waynesville," Gilmore said. "We're fortunate to have a group of officers dedicated to addressing these issues and we're very proud of all of them."

Kristen Lynn Welch, 41 of Cherokee; Anthony Keith Welch, 38 of Asheville; Antiono Lamont Holloway, 49 of Asheville; Glenda Sue Blakeman, 52, of Fletcher; and Lauren Ashley Cauthan, 24 of Moore, South Carolina, were all arrested following the stop.

They were arrested on a variety of drug charges, including trafficking methamphetamine, conspiring to trafficking opium/heroin, felony possession of a Schedule II controlled substance, conspiring to sell/deliver cocaine and conspiring to traffick methamphetamine.

Kristen Welch is being held on a $100,000 bond, Anthony Welch is being held on a $320,000 bond and Cauthan is being held on a $120,000 bond. Blakeman and Holloway have both posted bail.