Two men have been charged with a Class A felony drug crime after police allegedly found about three ounces of suspected methamphetamine during a search of a vehicle in Oak Ridge in August, according to court records.
Warrants filed in the case said the vehicle, a pickup truck, was searched after agents of the Seventh Judicial District Crime Task Force and officers of the Oak Ridge Police Department conducted surveillance along South Illinois Avenue at about 6 p.m. Monday, August 5.
“A black Chevrolet step-side pickup truck was observed pulling into the parking lot of Big Lots (at) 250 South Illinois Avenue,” the warrants said. “The female driver of the vehicle parked while a male passenger exited and got into the passenger side of a newer model Ford F-150 pickup.”
Agents identified both the driver of the F-150 and the passenger, according to the warrants, which were filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Oak Ridge by CTF Agent S. Perry Lewis.
The passenger, Otis Kevin Aslinger, 45, of Anderson County, was known to have several outstanding warrants in Anderson County, which was confirmed by Anderson County Sheriff’s Department dispatchers, Lewis wrote in the warrants.
After a short time, Aslinger got out of the Ford pickup truck and back into the Chevrolet pickup, Lewis said.
Agents watched the Chevy until it pulled into a convenience store on Oak Ridge Turnpike, the warrants said.
CTF agents and ORPD officers then surrounded the pickup truck and took Aslinger into custody, the warrants said.
“Aslinger was gripping a grocery bag with three approximate one-ounce bags of a crystal substance believed to be methamphetamine when he was taken into custody,” the warrants said. “The substance was in plain view in the seat of the vehicle and was photographed in place prior to collection.”
Aslinger was taken into custody for his outstanding warrants, and he was also charged with manufacturing, selling, delivering, or possessing methamphetamine, the warrants said.
He was within the 1,000-foot buffer of the Oak Ridge Early Headstart, making the charge a violation of the drug-free school zone, the warrants said. Manufacturing, delivering, selling, or possessing methamphetamine in a drug-free school zone is a Class A felony in Tennessee.
The female driver of the Chevrolet pickup truck was located inside of the store and detained. She was released after a warrants check was completed, Lewis said.
Police later learned that the person whom Aslinger met in the Big Lots parking lot was Rayshawn Lee Freeman, 24, of Oak Ridge, according to the warrants. His identification was consistent with what agents observed the day of the surveillance, the warrants said, and the ORPD found Freeman driving the Ford pickup truck on August 7.
Like Aslinger, Freeman has been charged with manufacturing, selling, delivering, or possessing methamphetamine in a drug-free school zone, a Class A felony. He possessed the narcotics within the 1,000-foot buffer of the Gold’s Gym daycare on South Illinois Avenue, a violation of the drug-free school zone, the warrants said.
Freeman has also been charged with criminal conspiracy, a Class B felony, according to the warrants.
Freeman was stopped in a Ford F-150 pickup truck on South Illinois Avenue on Wednesday, August 7, and a large amount of money was recovered and seized, according to warrants filed by CTF Agent Timothy Buckner. The F-150 had the wrong tag on it, and it was seized as part of the drug investigation, Buckner said.
Buckner went to Freeman’s home on Fisk Avenue as part of the investigation and for a probation check, and Freeman agreed to allow officers to search his home, the warrants said.
In the warrants, Buckner said agents found two prescription pills, one identified as oxymorphone and the other identified as lisinopril; multiple cell phones; corner “baggies”; multiple boxes of sandwich bags; and a vacuum sealer machine.
“Given my training and experience, these items are used to package illegal narcotics,” Buckner said.
But agents did not find any items that would be used with these bags in either the refrigerator or cabinets, Buckner said.
Outside the home, agents found a utility trailer valued at $1,696 that was reported stolen from Home Depot in Knox County, the warrants said.
Freeman was charged with felony property theft and simple possession or casual exchange.
Freeman also faces a probation violation charge, according to court and jail records.
He was released from the Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton on bonds of $232,500 and $75,000 on August 9, according to court and jail records.
But he was booked into the Knox County Jail on August 20 on a probation violation charge there, and bond was denied there, according to jail records.
Freeman has a court date scheduled for Tuesday morning, September 24, in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Oak Ridge.
Bond for Aslinger has been set at $100,000 in both Anderson County general sessions courts. Separate from the Oak Ridge case, Aslinger has other charges pending from a different case in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Clinton, and he has been charged with violation of probation.
Aslinger remains jailed at the Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton. His next court date in Oak Ridge has been set for October 29.
More information will be added as it becomes available.
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