USA Today reported on March 20 that a 21-year-old Texas man was arrested after the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office seized more than $1 million worth of crystal methamphetamine during a traffic stop. The alleged offender was pulled over for failure to maintain his lane of travel on Interstate 65, and deputies discovered 20 rolls of industrial shrink wrap with crystal meth hidden in each tube after the K-9 unit gave deputies a positive alert on the presence of narcotics in the bed of the man’s pickup truck.

The alleged offender was charged with manufacture/distribution of schedule II drugs, introduction of contraband into a penal facility, and failure to maintain lane of travel, according to USA Today. The street value of the methamphetamine involved was estimated at $1.2 million.

In January, KXAN-TV reported that the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office seized 32.7 pounds of methamphetamines during a traffic stop in Jarrell. Last August, the Austin American-Statesman reported that a sheriff’s deputy conducting a traffic stop on Interstate 35 in Williamson County found 65 pounds of suspected methamphetamine worth approximately $3 million hidden under the rear seat of a vehicle during a traffic stop.

Attorney for Methamphetamine Arrests in Georgetown, TX

While there were greater attempts made to regulate the availability of cold medications that are often used to manufacture (or “cook”) methamphetamine, so-called meth labs—the often transportable places where methamphetamine is manufactured—are still a problem in numerous areas of Texas and the larger southern United States. The high-profile arrests in Williamson County illustrate that authorities are capable of discovering and seizing methamphetamine that is being transported through the Georgetown area.

Even when an alleged offender is accused of simple possession of methamphetamine that does not involve any manufacture, delivery, or intent to deliver the drug, the crime is still a felony offense that carries steep penalties. State law in Texas also makes it a felony offense for a person to possess or transport anhydrous ammonia, an immediate precursor, or a chemical precursor or an additional chemical substance named as a precursor by the director of the Department of Public Safety with intent to unlawfully manufacture methamphetamine.

Criminal charges relating to methamphetamine possession or distribution are very serious, and alleged offenders should exercise their right to remain silent when taken into custody. Georgetown criminal defense lawyer Michael J. Price represents individuals accused of all kinds of drug crimes in the greater Williamson County area.