Ringgold, Ga., man faces federal drug charge

Wesley Gage Weldon
Wesley Gage Weldon

A Ringgold, Ga., man arrested on an attempted murder accusation now faces a federal drug charge, too.

A Drug Enforcement Agent issued a criminal complaint Friday against Wesley Gage Weldon, revealing that Weldon gave about an ounce of methamphetamine to an undercover investigator last year. The controlled buy was part of an investigation that started in November 2015, and the agent recorded Weldon saying he could sell a larger supply - but the complaint does not explain whether that ever materialized.

The DEA charged Weldon, 41, on Friday with one count of distributing methamphetamine. At the time, Weldon already was in the Catoosa County Jail for a separate case, one that Sheriff Gary Sisk said concerns "around drugs and money." In that incident, he faces charges of attempted murder, kidnapping, false imprisonment and theft by receiving stolen goods.

He remained in jail without bond Monday.

Weldon is the son of Dr. Darrell Weldon, the former chairman of the board that controlled Hutcheson Medical Center. He also is the brother of Tom Weldon, a Ringgold attorney and former state representative. Tom Weldon did not return a call seeking comment Monday.

According to the DEA's criminal complaint, an undercover investigator tried to buy methamphetamine from a woman in January 2016. The woman agreed to meet with the agent in the parking lot of the Walmart in Brainerd. There the agent met with her and Wesley Weldon.

Wesley Weldon told the agent he didn't have the drugs. But, according to the complaint, he said he could pick some up for him in North Georgia. Other agents then followed him down to Dalton. He and the woman then met up with the agent in the parking lot of the Chick-fil-A on Brainerd Road.

Wesley Weldon told the agent he still didn't have the drugs, according to the report. But this time, he said, another supplier would be meeting them. He then gave the agent a plastic bag with about 1 ounce of meth, to prove he was good for the drugs.

The agent said he didn't want to wait for the friend and left, according to the report. The criminal complaint does not say whether the agent tried to buy from Wesley Weldon again.

But on Jan. 13, according to a Catoosa County Sheriff's Office incident report, Wesley Weldon and three other people confronted someone at Weldon's house on Potts Road in Ringgold. He believed that person, who is not identified in the report, had stolen drugs or money from him.

Wesley Weldon ordered the other three people to take the victim away and beat the victim until they got more information, according to the report. They then put a gun to the man, marched about 150 yards away from the house, stripped him, bound his hands and feet with a cable and electrical tape, beat him and pistol whipped him.

Around 5 that same morning, the victim showed up to another house on Potts Road, pantsless and bloody. The person at the house called 911. Various law enforcement agencies were able to arrest the three people who worked with Wesley Weldon, Sheriff Gary Sisk said.

On Jan. 23, the sheriff's office took out warrants against Wesley Weldon. Through his attorney, he agreed to turn himself in. But on Wednesday, according to the complaint, he called local prosecutor Alan Norton and told him the police were going to have to find him.

That same day, the sheriff's office also received a message from Wesley Weldon. According to the complaint, he said he wasn't going to turn himself in for something he didn't think he did. He would fight instead. And law enforcement officers would have to kill him.

Later that day, officers arrived outside his house on Potts Road and found someone on a motorcycle, driving away. They weren't immediately sure who it was. But on a building next to Weldon's house, they found spray-painted messages.

"U Don't have to look 4 me I'm coming 4 you," one message read.

There is no report of Wesley Weldon approaching federal agents last week. But on Thursday, according to the complaint, officers learned Wesley Weldon stole three guns from his father's house. That night, the U.S. Marshal's Service and other law enforcement responded to a report that Wesley Weldon was at a house on Indian Avenue in Rossville.

Officers arrested him there after he tried to drive away, according to a Catoosa County Sheriff's Office news release.

The sheriff's office arrested Wesley Weldon twice in the previous two years. In 2015, he was charged with possession of a controlled substance. That case is pending. In August, the sheriff's office charged him with aggravated assault, accusing him of shooting someone in the leg at his house.

Contact staff writer Tyler Jett at 423-757-6476 or tjett@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @LetsJett.

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