Tip helps lead to drug arrest

Published 12:00 am Thursday, January 7, 2010

A citizen’s tip led to the arrest of an Opp man Tuesday by Drug Task Force agents, after he was allegedly caught with a barrage of illegal drugs inside his Childre Trailer Court home.

Robert Junior Lane, 30, now faces charges of trafficking a controlled substance, first-degree possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia, said DTF agent Paul Hudson.

“(Tuesday), we received information from a good citizen informant that stated (Lane) having cocaine, crack cocaine and marijuana inside his residence, which was located at Lot 35 at the trailer court,” he said. “We had enough information to obtain a search warrant of the residence, whereupon its execution, we found all that and some cash.”

Bond on Lane’s drug charges was set at $1.075 million. However, he is currently being held in the Covington County Jail without bond on a violation of probation charge.

“We get tips like this every day,” Hudson said. “We always follow up on them. We may not be able to make an arrest that day, based on the information, because sometimes we have to do further investigation. But rest assured, we follow up on our citizens’ tips.

“And for those, we thank the community,” he said.

This is the fifth arrest made by DTF agents in the Opp area during the last three weeks, Hudson said.

A Dec. 22 surveillance operation led to the arrest of three Opp men after each was allegedly caught in the act of selling drugs. Hudson said a fourth arrest was ultimately made based on additional information uncovered by agents.