Daniel Joseph Nicholson, 32, of Greenville was arrested on a controlled substance charge after a deputy found sleeping in his truck on the FM 2285 boat ramp.
While patrolling on FM 2285 at 12:28 a.m. Friday, Hopkins County Sheriff’s Deputy Aaron Chaney reported seeing the Chevrolet Silverado parked on the south boat ramp with lights off and went to check it out. On approach,the deputy observed through the driver’s side window a person leaning back in the front seat, asleep under a blanket. He knocked on the window, awaking the man. He opened the door to talk with the deputy, allowing Chaney to see a lot of belongings inside the pickup, Chaney reported.
The deputy noted the vehicle parked by the lake, but had no visible fishing equipment. When asked why he parked at the boat ramp, he reportedly told the deputy he was waiting until morning so he could contact his employer and get his paycheck, the deputies alleged in arrest reports.
Suspicious, the deputy asked the man to step out of the truck to talk to him. The man agreed to allow officials to search the truck and his pockets. He was asked and emptied his pockets. The search yielded a pipe of the kind commonly used to smoke methamphetamine in a shirt pocket in the passenger’s side floorboard. It had loose shards of a clear, crystal-like substance the deputy believed to be methamphetamine in the stem of the pipe. He was asked and confirmed everything in the truck was his, resulting in his arrest for possession of less than 1 gram of a Penalty Group 1 controlled substance, according to arrest reports.
Deputy Zack Horne arrived to help inventory the truck prior to impound, then stayed with it until the towing service arrived, allowing Chaney to transport the man, identified as 32-year-old Daniel Joseph Nicholson of Greenville, to the county jail on a possession of less than 1 gram of a Penalty Group 1 controlled substance, the deputies reported.
While at the jail, Chaney and Sgt. Scott Davis tested the loose crystal-like substance from the pipe with a methamphetamine field test kit. The result was positive for methamphetamine, the deputies alleged in arrest reports.
According to jail reports, Nicholson remained in the county jail Friday. Bond was set at $30,000 on the charge.
