Vehicle stopped here at request of MH officers; driver had active warrant, passenger had meth

Co-defendants Vantrez Jones, 35, of the state of Georgia, and Dustin Harrington, 39, of Springfield, have been charged in Ozark County court in connection with an April 19 traffic stop in Ozark County. 

Harrington is charged with possession of a controlled substance and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia (for methamphetamine). He was arraigned April 23, and the case was scheduled for a setting at 9 a.m. May 14 before Associate Judge Raymond Gross. Charges will also be filed in Arkansas. 

Jones is charged with being a fugitive from out-of-state and has signed a waiver of extradition. He is scheduled for an extradition hearing at 9 a.m. April 23 before the same judge. 

According to the probable cause statement in the case, on April 19, the Mountain Home (Arkansas) Police Department contacted the Ozark County Sheriff’s office and advised officers there that a silver SUV bearing New York plates was traveling north on State Highway J with a driver who had been going to bars in the area, trying to cash fake checks.

Ozark County Sheriff Cass Martin came across a Hyundai Santa Fe with New York plates and initiated an investigative traffic stop on the vehicle on Highway 160 near Bulldog Drive in Gainesville. 

Vantrez Jones from Georgia was identified as the driver, and Dustin Harrington was the passenger. 

When the sheriff asked dispatch to run a search on Jones’s identity, it showed that he had an active felony fugitive warrant issued against him from Harrison County, Mississippi for trafficking a controlled substance and possession of a controlled substance. The warrant included full extradition. 

Martin was informed that Arkansas investigators had requested that Harrington be detained and brought in for questioning.

An Arkansas investigator, Lt. Aaron Phillips arrived at the Ozark County Sheriff’s Office and conducted an interview with Harrington. He later told the sheriff that Harrington had told him he had methamphetamine in his backpack and that he “self medicates,” the report says. 

The sheriff requested a search warrant for the vehicle, which was being stored in the Ozark County Sheriff’s Department’s storage locker. 

“I located the backpack in the passenger side back seat. Contents inside the backpack were two black zip bags, one containing 4 grams of field-tested positive methamphetamine, another black zip bag with a straw, four grams of field-tested positive methamphetamine, two glass smoking devices field-tested positive for methamphetamine and a digital scale field-tested positive for methamphetamine,” the report says.