This article was originally published in The Examiner on Dec. 28, 2017.
By Eleanor Skelton
Staff Writer
A man on parole in Galveston County was caught at a hotel with several different drugs Wednesday.
Investigators with the Galveston County Sheriff’s Office Warrant Division and Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Task Force members helped the Galveston County Sheriff’s Office Special Crimes unit Wednesday, Dec. 20 to arrest James Merritt, Jr., Galveston County Sheriff Henry Trochesset said in a news release.
The Special Crimes unit had been investigating Merritt for illegally selling drugs and discovered that he also had a warrant for his arrest for violating parole, Trochesset said.
Deputies found Merritt and took him into custody at a nearby motel along with two other people who were also arrested due to other outstanding warrants,.
Investigators found over $3,000 in cash and Xanax pills in Merritt’s pockets during his arrest.
After deputies brought Merritt’s car to the Galveston County Sheriff’s Office, a K9 officer alerted them to drugs in the car, giving the deputies probable cause to obtain a search warrant.
Detectives found a half pound of Xanax, over two ounces of methamphetamine and half an ounce of cocaine in Merritt’s car.
Merritt is currently being held in the Galveston County Jail for two counts of manufacturing and delivering a controlled substance between 4 and 200 grams with a bond of $250,000, one count of manufacturing and delivering a controlled substance between 200 and 400 grams with a bond of $250,00 and a parole warrant with no bond specified, Trochesset said.
Eleanor Skelton 