Brown County Sheriff’s Office along with Brownwood Police Department conducted two unrelated investigations over the weekend that netted 9 arrests and identified several other possible suspects.
According to Captain Tony Aaron of the sheriff’s office, an investigation has been centered on Raymond Reedy for the past few months regarding the sale of methamphetamine from several hotel rooms around the county. Reedy is pictured to the left.
A felony arrest warrant was served on Reedy Saturday evening around 6:00pm at a Brownwood hotel regarding the delivery of a controlled substance, methamphetamine. BCSO investigators Captain Tony Aaron, Jason Benefield, Carlisle Gover, Brownwood narcotics officer Aaron Taylor worked in a cooperative effort to execute the warrant and search at a local hotel.
When investigators entered the hotel room, they found Reedy on the bed along with evidence of his involvement in selling methamphetamines which included a meth pipe, scales, packaging and a large amount of cash, according to Aaron. Reedy was arrested for the warrant Delivery of a Controlled Substance Penalty Grade 1 less than 1g in a Drug Free Zone and additionally charged with Manufacture Delivery of a Controlled Substance Penalty Grade 1 less than 1g in a Drug Free Zone.
BCSO officials stated that while officers were searching the hotel room, Reedy’s phone immediately began to receive calls and texts from customers wanting to purchase methamphetamine. Investigators began communicating with these individuals who began showing up at the hotel room to buy methamphetamine and included the following people.
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| Tracy Sutton | David Shaw | Chris Ballejo |
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| Cheyenne Wagner | Terry Bessent |
38-year-old Tracy Lynn Sutton came to the room, was searched and found to have a meth pipe with residue of meth on it, reported Aaron. Sutton was arrested and charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance Penalty Grade 1 less than 1g in a Drug Free Zone.
David Shaw showed up with the intention of making a purchase, said Aaron. When officers opened the door and identified themselves, Shaw ran; however, was apprehended in the parking lot according to the report. Search of his person revealed a meth pipe and the money to make the purchase. Shaw was arrested for Resisting Arrest, Evading Arrest, and Possession of a Controlled Substance Penalty Grade 1, less than 1g in a Drug Free Zone.
Next, 22-year-old Cheyenne Nicole Wagner and 28-year-old Terry Blaine Bessent arrived and were found to have methamphetamine pipes, scales and money to buy over $200 in meth, officials said. Wagner was arrested for Unlawful Use of Criminal Instrument (for possession of the scales & money) and also arrested for a warrant for forgery out of McCullough County. Bessent was arrested for Possession of a Controlled Substance Penalty Grade 1 less than 1g in a Drug Free Zone.
32-year-old Daniel “Chris” Ballejo arrived on a bicycle. When officers open the door, Ballejo takes off running and is tackled in the parking lot and arrested, according to Aaron. Bellejo was found to have a meth pipe on him with residue of meth in it, the report states. Looking closer at the bicycle, which was a mountain bike, it had all the serial numbers ground off of it, which indicated it was stolen. Ballejo was charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance Penalty Grade 1 less than 1g in a Drug Free Zone; Tampering with Identification Numbers; Resisting Arrest, Evading Arrest; and Theft Equal or Greater than $500 less than $1500.
Investigators made contact with several dozen people, some came and some did not. Calls included conversation requesting the methamphetamine, sometimes in code, according to Aaron.
“These people talk in code, such as one person asked for a ½ sheet of plywood. Mr. Reedy does not have a construction building and doesn’t sell construction materials, so it is easy to determine that it is a ½ gram of methamphetamine that they are asking for.” Aaron said. “It doesn’t take much to bust that code.”
“All in all, we contacted dozens of his contacts, buyers or suppliers, a dozen people showed up, some got arrested some didn’t,” Aaron stated. “We will continue our investigation into those people that he is associating with or using meth with. We have identified numerous more people that we were unaware of that were involved with this individual, Mr. Reedy. So we expect to arrest more in the future, in engaging cases or intention to distribute cases. We had a very productive evening”.
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| Shannon Cogburn | Milton Adam Holden | Marcus Burnett |
In an unrelated incident, Brown County Sheriff’s Office received a report last week of a theft of medication, Hydrocodone, in the North Lake Brownwood area, which resulted in an investigation of a suspect, identified as 47-year-old Shannon Holden Cogburn. The complainant listed Cogburn as a suspect. Several deputies went to talk to Cogburn on Friday, June 15th about the theft and searched her home, looking for the stolen medication. Through their investigation, several other prescription drugs for which Cogburn did not have a prescription, along with marijuana, marijuana pipes and paraphernalia used with smoking marijuana were found, according to Aaron. Cogburn was charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance Penalty Grade 3, less than 28g.
Also present at the residence were 24-year-old Milton Adam Holden of Abilene and 21-year-old Marcus Burnett of May. Holden was arrested, charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance Penalty Grade 4 less than 28g in a Drug Free Zone; Possession of a Dangerous Drug; and Possession of Marijuana less than 2oz. Burnett was charged with Possession of Marijuana less than 2oz.
Sheriff Bobby Grubbs commented on these weekend arrests and the work of the investigators.
“It was excellent work. It never ceases to amaze me the volume of narcotics in the county and across the state,” said Grubbs. “We hope to send the message that we don’t want these people in the county. Hopefully we will see a turnaround in the amount of narcotics traffic.”
Sheriff’s officials stated that they are seeing some results in the battle against drug trafficking in the county and that some dealers are looking to make contact outside of Brown County. Also, violent crimes are down and crime statistics as a whole are down as is the Brown County Jail count.
“Clearly this (drug trafficking) impacts other people’s lives. We aggressively work to combat anything that negatively affects people’s lives,” stated Sheriff’s officials.
