Sheriff: “You just can’t make this stuff up”

Dep. Cynthia Patten was working on reports at the sheriff’s office April 14 when she went outside to retrieve something from her patrol car. On her way, she met Jon Connor Montgomery, 19, and Kayla Edwins entering the detention center to visit an inmate. Both reeked of alcohol and marijuana.As she got to the parking lot, Patten detected a strong odor of marijuana from a grey Nissan Maxima. Edwins returned to the Nissan which she told Patten belonged to her boyfriend.Patten and Edwins reentered the detention center and Patten had a jailer get Montgomery out of the visitation area. Dep. Bossie Davis arrived and Patten told Montgomery she smelled marijuana on him and in the Nissan.Everyone walked back outside. Patten asked Montgomery and Edwins several times if they had anything illegal on them or in the car because they were inside the guard lines of the facility.Both said ‘˜no’ but Montgomery said he was being harassed by all cops and wanted to know what right Patten had to search his vehicle. She replied the odor of marijuana was enough for a probable cause search.The window of the Nissan was rolled down and a half-smoked joint was clearly visible in a cupholder. More weed was found in the car along with an empty vodka bottle and a cup with a liquid that tested positive for alcohol. Both Montgomery and Edwins were cuffed but Edwins was later released after Montgomery attested the car and everything in it were his.A review of the security video at the detention center clearly showed Montgomery driving the Nissan when it arrived.He was charged with DUI, consumption of alcohol by a minor, no insurance, no registration and suspended license.Montgomery was one of two young men charged with contempt of court after failing a courthouse drug test ordered by Judge Tommy Wilson Feb. 1. He was also among seven people arrested in the wee hours March 13 when a prank suicide call led officers to a Houston Street apartment in Barnesville where drugs, drug paraphernalia and stolen street signs were found.’You just can’t make this stuff up,’ sheriff Brad White said about Montgomery’s latest brush with the law.