Warrants: Police find drug paraphernalia, suspected meth in Vermont Ave search

Police found suspected methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia during a search of a home on Vermont Avenue early Friday morning, authorities said.

Two people were arrested on drug charges after the search, and two were arrested on outstanding warrants.

Warrants filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Clinton said a search of the home at 306 Vermont Avenue found suspected methamphetamine, a blister pack containing four suspected pseudoephedrines, three suspected clonazepam, a snort straw, spoons with residue, black digital scales with residue, pipes, clear plastic baggies with residue, and an unknown white residue.

The two people arrested on drug violations, Joel Donovan Packard, 23, and Tiffany Lea Packard, 42, live at the Vermont Avenue home. Both remained jailed in the Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton on Tuesday afternoon.

Both Packards have been charged with manufacturing, delivering, or selling Schedule II drugs; manufacturing, delivering, or selling Schedule IV drugs; maintaining a dwelling for manufacturing, selling, or delivering narcotics; and possession of drug paraphernalia.

The search was conducted at about 6:45 a.m. Friday, February 24, by the Seventh Judicial District Crime Task Force in Anderson County and the Oak Ridge Police Department.

Authorities have previously said that two other people, Jackson McGhee, 41, and James Brown, 27, were arrested after the Friday morning search on outstanding warrants in a related case.

Other people who were present were released and told to leave.

Among other things, the warrants said a phone allegedly shared by Joel Packard and Tiffany Packard, his mother, and two phones that Tiffany Packard claimed as hers had several text messages where the user of the phone was selling narcotics to other unknown subjects.

There was some finger-pointing among those arrested, according to the warrants, regarding who actually possessed some of the narcotics and drug paraphernalia found by agents on Friday.

Tiffany Packard said she had clonazepam in her bedroom, and Joel Packard acknowledged using suboxone from a “stash” he had after getting out of jail the day before, on Thursday, according to the warrants. Tiffany Packard told agents that Joel Packard and his friends sell narcotics, the warrants said.

The home at 306 Vermont Avenue is across the street from St. Mary’s Catholic Church and School in central Oak Ridge.

Oak Ridge officials inspected the house for possible code violations to determine whether condemnation or other administrative actions might be appropriate, according to a City of Oak Ridge press release last week.

“This is a classic example of why we have drug-free school zones because this property is directly across the street from St. Mary’s Church and School,” said Russell Barker, director of the Seventh Judicial District Crime Task Force. “The nearby presence of these activities exposed the children to danger from the criminal element that frequents drug sale areas as well as from used and disposed hypodermic needles found in the area of the school playground. We were pleased to be involved with ORPD in helping to solve this problem.”

Besides the Seventh Judicial District Crime Task Force, the Oak Ridge Police Department had help from the Oak Ridge Electric Department and Codes Enforcement Office.

“I am glad everyone is safe, and some of the people that have been causing a problem in the neighborhood have gone to jail,” Oak Ridge Police Chief Jim Akagi said. “We aren’t going to tolerate these problems in Oak Ridge.”

Akagi said the Codes Enforcement Office may be able to find a “more permanent solution to this problem property.”

More information will be added as it becomes available.

 

 

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