Two West Plains residents have each been charged with two counts of second-degree drug trafficking and a count of keeping or maintaining a public nuisance after a narcotics search warrant was executed by the West Plains Police Department Jan. 23 at a home on Allen Street.
Court records show warrants with a $50,000 bond each have been issued for Carrie L. McFarland, 62, and James A. Quiroz, 41.
Cpl. Thomas Manning, in a probable cause statement submitted to prosecutors and filed Jan. 24, said the warrant was based on reliable information that illegal narcotics were at the residence. During the search, Manning said, two bags containing a white crystal substance that field-tested positive for methamphetamine were found, along with three more bags containing a white crystal substance suspected to be meth, six orange pills suspected to be methadone, a bag containing 50 pills suspected to be oxycodone hydrochloride, another bag with 12 pills suspected to be oxycodone hydrochloride, a third bag with 200 pills suspected to be oxycodone hydrochloride, and two orange pills suspected to be acetaminophen and hydrocodone.
The total amount of suspected methamphetamine is 39.57 grams, or about 1.4 ounces, and 264 of the pills confiscated are suspected to contain fentanyl, Manning stated.
The case is being prosecuted by Howell County Prosecutor Mike Hutchings and Assistant Prosecutor Jodi Wake. Court records show McFarland and Quiroz each posted bond Monday and both are scheduled to make initial appearances in court Feb. 5 before Associate 37th Circuit Judge R. David Ray. Neither defendant has an attorney listed in the records as of Tuesday afternoon.
