JOHNSON COUNTY, KY CRIME NEWS:
JOHNSON COUNTY, KY. WOMAN ARRESTED ON METH TRAFFICKING AND CHILD ENDANGERMENT CHARGES OVER NEW YEAR’S HOLIDAY WEEKEND
JANUARY 5, 2026 – written by WADE QUEEN
A Johnson County, Kentucky woman was arrested and charged with drug trafficking and child endangerment after police alleged they found methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia inside her vehicle and near children.
According to an arrest citation written by patrolman officer Justin Jackson of the Paintsville Police Department; on Saturday afternoon, January 3, Paintsville/Johnson County E-911 received a call reporting that a black SUV pulled into the Dollar General parking lot on Euclid Avenue with two small children in the backseat who were not secured in car seats, according to the arrest citation.
Officer Jackson wrote that when he arrived on the scene, he located a vehicle matching the description of the one given to 911. Officer Jackson made contact with the female driver, who was later identified as Megan Elizabeth Neidlinger, 30, of ButterMilk Road, Boons Camp, KY., and asked why the children were not properly restrained. Megan Neidlinger told officer Jackson she was “just running to the dollar store,” the arrest citation said.
“I asked the driver if she had any form of identification; she advised she did not,” officer Jackson wrote onward in the arrest citation.
Megan Neidlinger, according to the arrest citation, stated she then proceeded to give Jackson false identifying information.
Megan Neidlinger eventually gave her name and information, and advised that she might have an active warrant, which a records check confirmed, the arrest citation said; to which she was then placed under arrest.
“During a search of the vehicle, I located a substantial amount of U.S. currency in $20 bills, multiple individual baggies containing a white crystal substance believed to be methamphetamine, a clear glass pipe with white burnt residue, one oval white pill, and used hypodermic needles,” officer Jackson wrote in the arrest citation. “All items were located within arm’s reach of the children inside the vehicle.”
Megan Neidlinger was lodged in the Big Sandy Regional Detention Center and booked on the following charges of:
*GIVING OFFICER FALSE IDENTIFYING INFORMATION;
*TRAFFICKING IN CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE, 1ST DEGREE, 1ST OFFENSE – (> OR = 2 GRAMS METHAMPHETAMINE);
*POSSESSION CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE, 3RD DEGREE – DRUG UNSPECIFIED;
*DRUG PARAPHERNALIA – BUY/POSSESS;
*ENDANGERING THE WELFARE OF A MINOR.
Megan Neidlinger currently remains incarcerated in the BSRDC as of Monday afternoon January 5.
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JOHNSON COUNTY, KENTUCKY WOMAN ARRESTED ON FELONY STRANGULATION CHARGE INVOLVING JUVENILE
A Johnson County, KY. woman was arrested on a felony strangulation charge involving a juvenile.
According to an arrest citation, patrolman officer Justin Jackson of the Paintsville Police Department wrote that Paintsville/Johnson County E-911 received a call at 12:45 P.M., Saturday, January 3, about a juvenile running down Madison Avenue in Paintsville, screaming for help.
Officers made contact with the juvenile and placed the child with them for safety reasons until they could determine what had occurred, the citation said. The juvenile said that Courtney Gene Dunn, 25, of F.M. Stafford Avenue, Paintsville, KY., placed her arm around the juvenile’s neck and squeezed on multiple occasions, impeding the airway, because the juvenile and a sibling were “playing too loudly,” the citation said.
When the juvenile attempted to get up, Courtney Dunn would hold the child down with her knee, officer Jackson wrote in the citation.
Child Protective Services was contacted, and the juvenile was taken to Paintsville Appalachian-Regional-Hospital for evaluation, according to the citation.
Courtney Dunn was transported to and lodged in the Big Sandy Regional Detention Center on a charge of:
- STRANGULATION 1ST DEGREE (NON-DOMESTIC VIOLENCE).
Courtney Dunn currently remains incarcerated in the BSRDC as of Monday afternoon January 5.
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KENTUCKY STATE POLICE ARREST JOHNSON COUNTY, KY. MAN ALONG WITH FAYETTE COUNTY, KY. PARTNER AFTER THE PAIR CAUGHT BURGLARIZING STORAGE UNIT IN PAINTSVILLE ON NEWS DAY
A Johnson County, KY. man who was teaming up with a Fayette County, KY. man when they were arrested by state police on felony charges after allegedly stealing from a storage unit in Paintsville on New Year’s Day nighttime.
According to an arrest citation written by Kentucky State Police Post 9-Pikeville Trooper William Hall, on Thursday night, January 1, he was approached at a business in HagerHill by a person who claimed that someone was breaking into storage units at Action Storage.
The burglary victim, trooper Hall wrote, had videos of a man cutting locks and taking items from the storage unit.
Trooper Hall wrote that, while patrolling in the area of 8th Street in Paintsville, he observed two men unloading tools and storage bins full of equipment that the victim was able to identify as belonging to him and his company.
The duo were identified in the arrest citation, Steven Tyler Rose, 41, of KY. 1624, Flat Gap, KY.and William Thomas Tomblin, 50, of West Loudon Avenue, Lexington, KY. told trooper Hall that their friends had left the items in William Tomblin’s vehicle for unknown reasons, the arrest citation said.
Trooper Hall wrote that neither man could give a clear explanation as to why they were moving the stolen property into Rose’s girlfriend’s residence.
While questioning the men, troope Hall wrote, he discovered a bag of suspected methamphetamine on the ground. Both Steven Rose and William Tomblin, according to the arrest citation, denied ownership of the drug and they said it was not there before the questioning began.
Trooper Hall wrote that most of the stolen property was recovered.
Both Steven Rose and William Tomblin were transported to and lodged in the Big Sandy Regional Detention Center on the following charges of:
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*BURGLARY, 3RD DEGREE;
*CRIMINAL MISCHIEF 2ND DEGREE;
*RECEIVING STOLEN PROPERTY;
*THEFT BY UNLAWFUL TAKING OR DISPOSITION ALL OTHERS $1,000,000 < $10,000,000;
*POSSESSION CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE 1ST DEGREE, 1ST OFFENSE (METHAMPHETAMINE).
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Steven Rose was also additionally charged with:
*BURGLARY, 2ND DEGREE. Both men remain incarcerated at the BSRDC as of Monday afternoon January 5
A Johnson County, KY. man has been arrested on felony charges, including trafficking in a controlled substance, after a traffic stop by Paintsville Police on New Year’s Day night.
According to an arrest citation written by Paintsville Police Officer patrolman Isaac Owens, on the early evening of Thursday, January 1, he saw a 2017 Volkswagen Jetta cut off another vehicle on KY. 321.
Officer Owens wrote that, upon contact, the driver, Keith Darrell Jackson, 61, of KY. 825, Oil Springs, KY., told officer Owens that his license was suspended.
The arrest citation said officer Owens confirmed that there was an active arrest warrant for Keith Jackson’s arrest and that officer Owens asked Keith Jackson to step out of the vehicle.
While exiting the vehicle, officer Owens wrote in the arrest citation that he saw Keith Jackson attempt to stuff a clear baggie in between the driver’s seat and the center console of the vehicle. Keith Jackson admitted to officer Owens that the baggie contained the prescription drug gabapentin, officer Owens wrote in the arrest citation.
Officer Owens wrote in the arrest citation that while conducting field sobriety tests, Keith Jackson told the officer he had been smoking methamphetamine and instructed the officer to “go ahead and take him for a blood draw.”
Officer Owens wrote in the final part of the arrest citation that, during a search of Keith Jackson, he found a “substantial amount” of cash as well as several suboxone films.
