HOT COFFEE BREAK BY LAWRENCE COUNTY DEPUTIES LEADS TO HOT WATER FOR WANTED JOHNSON COUNTY DRUG SUSPECT

EAGLE EYE & MEMORY RECALL OBSERVATION BY TOP DEPUTY TO RECOGNIZE INDICTED DEALER LEADS TO NEW DRUG CHARGES

JUNE 23, 2021 – written by WADE QUEEN

JASON N. HODGE, 41, OF PAINTSVILLE, WAS WANTED ON INDICTMENT WARRANT FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING, AND GETS NEW DRUG CHARGES FROM ARREST BY LAWRENCE COUNTY DEPUTIES.

A late night coffee break by a pair of Lawrence County, Ky. deputies went into an unexpected direction, as their yearning for hot cups of java led instead to them nabbing a wanted drug dealer from a neighboring county

According to the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department, it happened late last Friday night, June 18, at a gas station in southern Lawrence County.

Chief Deputy Mason Keefer and Deputy Daniel Castle stopped by the Valero gas station, also known and still called by county residents by its original name. as Happy Mart, in Lowmansville, about closing time 11:00 P.M. on Friday night, and noticed a guy sitting on a motorcycle during a rainstorm.

As both deputies approached the motorcycle driver, deputy Keefer recognized the individual as having an active indictment warrant for drug trafficking in heroin and methamphetamine out of Johnson County.

Deputy Keefer and deputy Castle positively identified the suspect as Jason N. Hodge, 41, of Paintsville, Ky., and they arrested Jason Hodge, and upon searching him, they found him in possession of two eight balls of meth and more than $800 cash.

In addition to his Johnson County indictment warrant for trafficking heroin and methamphetamine, Jason Hodge was also charged with trafficking a controlled substance (methamphetamine, over two grams), possession of a controlled substance (methamphetamine), tampering with evidence, and drug paraphernalia.

Jason Hodge was transported to and was booked to be lodged in the Big Sandy Regional Detention Center in Paintsville.