By Patrick Yost
Editor

A Comer, Ga., man was arrested on Monday, Jan. 14 on charges of possession of methamphetamine with the intent to distribute after a two-week investigation by Morgan County authorities.

Bruce Edward Hicks, 31, was charged following a traffic stop by Madison Police Department Officer Jeremy Hoffman.

According to Capt. Chris Bish, Morgan County Sheriff's Office Investigation Division, Hicks was identified by law enforcement officers as a “significant distributor” of methamphetamine in Morgan County. Bish said investigators with the Criminal Investigations Division had identified Hicks as a possible methamphetamine distributor during interviews with confidential informants. Bish said authorities identified Hicks and the vehicle he was driving and issued an alert for law enforcement to “be on the lookout” for the suspect.
According to Hoffman’s report, the Madison Police officer identified the vehicle at approximately 9:30 p.m. on the Madison bypass. Hoffman alleged that Hicks’ silver Honda Prelude was weaving in his lane. Hoffman initiated a traffic stop on Hicks in the former BiLo parking lot.

Following the stop, reports state, Morgan County Sheriff’s Office employees, including a drug dog, aided Hoffman in searching the vehicle. Officers located a black box with a magnetic base from the underside of the vehicle. The box, reports state, contained approximately an ounce of suspected methamphetamine and a digital scale. Inside the vehicle officers seized four cellphones, a large plastic bag containing 43 plastic zip lock bags, an address book containing names and phone numbers, a prescription bottle containing tablets and $7. Consequent to his arrest jailers at the Morgan County Detention Center also seized $446 cash from Hicks.
Hicks was charged with possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute, possession of narcotic equipment and possession of narcotics in a drug free zone.

Bish said Hicks arrest marked a "continued quest to rid Morgan County of methamphetamine."

"He was identified as a source of bringing methamphetamine into Morgan County," Bish said. Bish said Hicks was a former Morgan County resident who had been arrested by Morgan County authorities on burglary charges in 2008 and was released on parole approximately seven months ago.  He remains incarcerated in the Morgan County Detention Center.

Printed in the January 24, 2013 edition.