Teen sells pot to cop near AMS, is jailed
Published 12:05 am Thursday, May 24, 2012
For the second day in a row, Drug Task Force agents have arrested a man for selling marijuana to an undercover officer near an Andalusia city school – not once, but twice.
Olan M. McGee Jr., 19, was arrested Tuesday for two counts of distribution of a controlled substance after he allegedly sold the drugs to an undercover officer working with the DTF.
DTF commander Mark Odom said the incidents – which occurred on Jan. 24 and Jan. 31 – marked the second arrest of its kind this week. Alvin Earl Patrick, 38, was arrested on Monday. Patrick’s offenses allegedly occurred in January and February.
DTF prosecutor Emmett Massey told The Star-News Wednesday that the incidents occurred near Andalusia Middle School and the Pine View Apartment complex. When asked if the arrests were a growing trend, Massey said yes, but not in the way that people might assume.
“I don’t think that more people are selling drugs, per se,” he said. “Our DTF has been phenomenal with catching those distributing drugs. There is a push now more than ever to rid drugs from our community.
“The way you fight a drug problem is you have to get the people selling the drugs,” he said. “If you only settle for arresting the users, you never get to the source. As time goes on, we will definitely have more arrests of this nature.
“Hopefully people selling drugs will take notice and decide it’s not worth the risk,” he said.
Massey said both arrests came after months of “building the complexity of the cases.”
McGee is currently being held in the Covington County Jail under a $200,000 bond.