(Stillwater, Okla.) — An ex-convict from Drumright who got out of prison two years ago has been jailed in Payne County on a charge of possessing methamphetamine in Cushing on Sept. 2.
Michael Lewis Ward, 34, was wanted in a Drumright drug case when he was spotted getting out of a car in front of a Cushing laundry shortly before 5 a.m., Cushing Police Officer Jerrod Livergood wrote in an affidavit filed Friday with the charge.
“I was familiar with Ward from multiple previous contacts,” the Cushing officer wrote in his affidavit.
After Ward was arrested on a bench warrant issued in a 2012 Drumright drug case, the Cushing officer felt a bulge inside his right sock, the affidavit alleged.
“Ward immediately stated that it was not his and he didn’t know what was inside the container. Ward said that he was holding it for someone…Ward asked multiple times what was in the container and said he thinks it was Epsom salt,” the affidavit alleged.
When a substance in the container was field-tested by Cushing Police Sgt. Carson Watts, it was presumptive positive for methamphetamine, the affidavit alleged.
The container had two small clear baggies with a crystal-like substance, two small clear baggies with a crystal-like residue, some loose crystal-like substance in the bottom and a wadded-up piece of tin foil with burnt residue, the affidavit alleged.
“Ward advised that the container belonged to his currently separated wife’s boyfriend although he didn’t know his name. Ward said that he put the container in his own sock holding it for him and that he didn’t know what was in it.
“Ward also said that he put the container in his sock approximately 10 minutes prior to when I made contact with him. I asked why he didn’t tell me it was in there, and he advised that he forgot it was in there until I started searching his socks.
“I asked Ward how long it had been since he used meth and he advised that it was approximately six months ago. Ward said he was released from jail about three months ago when he did three months in custody,” the Cushing officer wrote in his affidavit.
According to state Department of Corrections records, Ward had been convicted of:
* drug possession in Drumright in 2004 for which he was originally given five years’ probation that was changed in 2008 to a three-year prison term of which he served less than one year;
* passing a bogus check in Payne County in 2005 for which he was given five years’ probation in 2006;
* domestic assault and battery in Payne County in 2007 for which he was given a concurrent three-year prison term in 2008 of which he served about 13 months;
* obtaining a drug by forgery or fraud in Drumright for which he was given a two-year prison term in 2013 of which he served about six months prior to a bench warrant being issued for his arrest in July of this year;
* possession of methamphetamine in Payne County in 2012 for which he was given a concurrent four-year prison term in 2013 of which he served about 14 months prior to his release in July 2014.
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