Deputy makes drug bust during traffic stop

A routine traffic stop last Friday turned into an individual being arrested for having a "substantial amount of meth," according to Sanders County Sheriff Tom Rummel.

Deputy Roy Scott stopped a vehicle on Highway 28 near Hot Springs for a traffic violation at just after 10:30 a.m. on Oct. 26. During the course of the stop, Sheriff Rummel said in a statement that Scott observed indicators that the vehicle may be transporting illegal drugs. Further investigation revealed methamphetamine and illegal marijuana in the vehicle.

The driver was arrested and is being held at the Sanders County Jail, Sheriff Rummel said Monday

Sheriff Rummel expressed his appreciation and support for Deputy Scott.

"Within those two bags containing what we suspect to be meth, are approximately 107 individual doses of the drug," Rummel said in a statement. "With those doses comes about 107 very real possibilities of a domestic violence call, assault, impaired driving crash and/or fatality, sexual assault, child abuse/neglect, burglary, theft, and other violent offenses within our communities. Now factor in the hours of casework, personnel and financial resources that would need to be dedicated to dealing with those related issues- after they have occurred. ... All that chaos, heartbreak and taxpayer expense just in those two bags, which are only a drop in the sea of meth out there that is being transported and used every day."