(Stillwater, Okla.) — A former Cushing man, who was arrested by Perkins Police Officer George Washington Farmer IV outside the Cimarron Casino in Perkins, has been charged with possessing methamphetamine with intent to distribute and also possessing drug paraphernalia.
Richard Ryan Gualco Jr. 36, of Stillwater, who was already on 10 years’ probation for attempting to manufacture methamphetamine in Cushing in 2010, has been jailed on $20,000 bail on his Perkins drug charge that was filed last week.
If convicted of possessing the drug with intent to distribute after a former felony conviction, Gualco could be sentenced to two years to life in prison and fined $20,000. If convicted of possessing drug paraphernalia, Gualco could be given an additional one-year jail term and $1,000 fine.
The Perkins officer was dispatched at 1:07 a.m. Oct. 4 to the Cimarron Casino to assist Iowa Tribal Police Officers Jason Hickman and Chris Tillman, “who had a non-native male in investigative detention in possession of and believed to be selling methamphetamines to several people inside of the casino and out of his vehicle parked in the north parking lot throughout the night,” an affidavit alleged.
“I spoke with Officers Hickman and Tillman, who informed me that the male had been seen making what they believed to be a narcotics transaction inside of the casino with another male wearing an orange ball cap,” the Perkins officer alleged in an affidavit.
“When the officers approached the male, they noticed him put a plastic baggy inside of his Marlboro Blacks cigarette pack.
“When they asked him to see what it was, he gave Officer Hickman the cigarette pack, and it was discovered to be a plastic baggy with a large amount of a crystal-like substance resembling crystal methamphetamine,” the affidavit alleged.
“I asked Gualco if the cigarette pack belonged to him, and he said, ‘yes,"” the Perkins officer alleged in his affidavit.
“It was at this time Officer Hickman located inside of the plastic cellophane another smaller hidden plastic baggy with a crystal-like substance inside of it,” the affidavit alleged.
“The crystal substance in each baggy produced a positive field test result,” for methamphetamine, the affidavit alleged.
When Gualco’s car was impounded by the casino’s security staff, the Perkins officer alleged in his affidavit that “sitting in plain view in the rear passenger side floorboard was a small briefcase-like container that contained two hypodermic needles (one with a clear liquid inside of it), several plastic baggies (some with a crystal-like residue inside of them), a silver weight, a measuring spoon, a glass pipe with a white residue, part of a tablespoon and a digital scale.”
At about 1:40 a.m., the Perkins police officer arrested Gualco, who was transported to the Payne County Jail where he remains held pending a Nov. 3 court appearance when he can ask for a preliminary hearing on the felony methamphetamine charge, court records show.***
