On the evening of Dec. 15, Stephens County Deputy Justin Rose went to serve two misdemeanor warrants for theft against Robert W. Standridge, age 64, at his residence at 1796 FM 3201. The situation went quickly from a misdemeanor to a second degree felony.
Standridge lives in a camper at this address near County Road 217. While Deputy Rose contacted Standridge, two other occupants were inside the camper. All three adults exited the camper. While doing so, Deputy Rose smelled the odor of marijuana emitting from the camper.
Deputy Rose called Sheriff William Holt and Deputy Flournoy to the scene for backup. Standridge did not give consent to search the camper, so Deputy Flournoy and Sheriff Holt stayed on scene to guard the camper while Deputy Rose and Chief Deputy Roach wrote an affidavit for a search warrant. The warrant was granted by the 90th District Judge, and then served at 1796 FM 3201 on the same evening.
Approximately nine grams of methamphetamine were discovered in the camper divided into multiple plastic bags. Possession of this amount is a second degree felony under the offense title: Possession of a Controlled Substance Penalty Group 1. Approximately 2.5 ounces of marijuana and drug paraphernalia were also confiscated, along with other evidence.
Standridge was initially booked into jail on the theft warrants; one is a Class B Misdemeanor for Theft greater than or equal to $100 but less than $750 and the other a Class A Misdemeanor for Theft greater than or equal to $750 but less than $2,500. The class MB Theft stems from a crime in August of this year in the Crystal Falls area, and the class MA theft stems from a crime in the Crystal Falls area from the year 2017. The bond amounts for the thefts are $1,500 and $2,500 respectively.
The next day, while Standridge was still confined in the Stephens County Jail, he was booked on an additional warrant for the methamphetamine seized from the search warrant. The bond amount for that offense is $25,000. As a result of this new charge the Justice of the Peace found his bonds to be insufficient from an August 2020 arrest, where he was booked into jail for the Exploitation of a Disabled Person (third degree felony) and for Possession of Methamphetamine less than 1 gram (forth degree felony/State Jail Felony). The warrants issued for Insufficient Bonds on those two charges are $20,000 each.
The criminal investigation from the evening of Dec. 15 is still on-going.
