UPDATE: A prosecutor has decided not to pursue the case against the second of two defendants in a cocaine trafficking case.
Assistant District Attorney Lynsay Peardon signed an order that she would not pursue charges against Jonie Michelle Burns on Oct. 12 "due to insufficient evidence." However, that did not stop the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit Drug Task Force from seizing $13,560 from Burns.
The same day the criminal case against her was dropped, in a separate civil case, Burns stopped fighting the agency's attempt to take the money.
"Her co-defendant exonerated her," said defense attorney Steven Miller, "And we just conceded the forfeiture petition."
An investigative summary for the the arrests of Jordan and Burns, made publicly available last week, shows that officers received a tip that drugs deals were going down at a house in the 300 block of Burnt Mill Lane in Flintstone.
When he got there, DTF Commander Pat Doyle noticed security cameras overlooking the front of the house. Two cars sat in the driveway, according to the file, but nobody answered for several minutes after Doyle knocked on the door. Finally, two men pulled up in a pickup truck, telling Doyle and other investigators that they had just been on the phone with Jordan, that he was home and waiting for them.
Finally, according to the investigative summary, Jordan answered. Agents looked through the house and found some ammunition and a vacuum sealer machine.
One of Burns' and Jordan's roommates told an agent that Jordan asked him to hide marijuana for him. And sure enough, according to the investigative summary, agents found marijuana inside one of the roommate's bags.
Doyle applied for a search warrant to look more thoroughly throughout the house. After Walker County Magistrate Judge Kela Spence signed off, according to the summary, the agents combed through the house.
In the master bedroom, inside a shoe box, rolled up, an agent found $13,560. In the basement, according to the summary, Agent Matt Cole noticed some insulation folded in an odd way. He peeled it back and found a mason jar.
According to the summary, the jar held three baggies of cocaine, each holding about an ounce. The agents also found two suspected crack-cocaine cookies, 18 Oxycodone pills and 92 MDMA Ecstasy pills.
And behind the mason jar, according to the summary, officers found a drawstring bag. And inside the bag, they found two loaded semi-automatic handguns.
When the officers arrested Jordan, they also took the cash and a Chevrolet Monte Carlo.
Later that day, Burns called the sheriff's office, asking how to get her car back. Doyle told her he had evidence that she knew about the drug deals and was benefiting from them. She told him she would turn herself in four days later.
UPDATE: Joshua Philmore Jordan pleaded guilty on Sept. 27, receiving 10 years in prison, followed by 20 years on probation. Jordan also agreed to pay a $200,000 fine.
Jordan pleaded guilty to trafficking cocaine, trafficking methamphetamine, possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, possession of a schedule II controlled substance, possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and two counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
According to an indictment, investigators found 28 grams of cocaine in the house on Burnt Mill Road. Despite his status as a convicted felon, Jordan also had a Beretta 96 .40-caliber handgun and a Smith & Wesson .40-caliber handgun.
Jordan's co-defendant in the case, Jonie Michelle Burns, has not pleaded guilty. As of Sept. 20, she was represented by LaFayette attorney Larry Hill, who agreed last week to surrender his bar license as part of a guilty plea in an unrelated case.
Summerville attorney Steven Miller is taking over Hill's cases.
ORIGINAL STORY: The Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit Drug Task Force arrested a Flintstone, Ga., man for possession of cocaine, ecstasy, marijuana and oxycodone last week.
According to an incident report by DTF Commander Pat Doyle, agents served a search warrant on a house in the 300 block of Burnt Mill Lane around 11:30 a.m.Thursday. Inside, they found 28-year-old Joshua Philmore Jordan - and allegedly a slew of drugs.
Agents found a Mason jar in the insulation of the floor with about 1 ounce of cocaine inside, according to the report. They also found two semi-automatic handguns. In additions, according to the report, they found two "cookies" of crack cocaine, 18 oxycodone pills, 30 tablets of ecstasy, an unidentified amount of marijuana and "a large sum of cash."
On top of four charges of possession of drugs with intent to distribute and one charge of trafficking cocaine, the DTF also charged Jordan with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.