Young Harris traffic stop leads to drug arrest

YOUNG HARRIS, Ga. – Towns County Sheriff’s Office investigators and deputies continue their push to arrest drug suspects throughout the Towns County area. On Tuesday, July 23, a Towns County deputy conducted a traffic stop on King Cove Road at the intersection of Gumlog Road in Young Harris on a Toyota truck.

After initiating the traffic stop and upon further investigation, the deputy arrested Stephanie Nicolette Phillips, 40, of Marble, North Carolina on the following charges:

• One Count Violation of Georgia Controlled Substance Act, Possession of Methamphetamine
• One Count Driving on Suspended License
• One Count Tampering with Evidence
• One Count Possession of Drug Related Objects
• Two Counts Defective Equipment (No Brake Lights, Busted Windshield)

“The Towns County Sheriff’s Office will continue their strong effort to seek out the drug suspects within the Towns County area, and additional arrests will be forth coming,” Towns County Chief Deputy Terry Conner said.

The above case will be forwarded to the Enotah Circuit District Attorney’s Office for prosecution. Phillips is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.   

According to Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) statistics, methamphetamine arrests throughout the state have increased approximately 16 percent in recent years:

• 12,703 in 2015
• 13,634 in 2016
• 14,742 in 2017

“It’s in every county in our state, and it’s inundated our crime lab,” Deneen Kilcrease, the Chemistry Section Manager of the GBI Crime Lab in DeKalb County, said in February. “County after county, the number one drug is methamphetamine. We only see about half the amount of cocaine that we do methamphetamine.”