Man and woman arrested on multiple drug charges

A Benton man and woman were arrested early Friday on multiple felony charges after a Garland County sheriff’s deputy said he observed their vehicle being driven erratically.

The driver, Jon Nelson Thomas, 50, and his passenger, Megan Elizabeth Burbank, 34, were taken into custody around 3:40 a.m. and each charged with one count of unauthorized use of another person’s property to facilitate a crime, a felony punish- able by up to 20 years in prison, and two counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, punishable by up to six years.

Nelson was also charged with one count of driving while intoxicated for drugs, a misdemeanor, and possession of a controlled substance, a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Burbank was also charged with three felony counts of possession of controlled substance with intent to deliver, punishable by up to 10 years, and one count of possession of controlled substance with intent to deliver, punishable by up to 20 years.

Both remained in custody Monday — Nelson, on a $14,500 bond, and Burbank, on a $25,000 bond. They are set to appear in Garland County District Court Sept. 11.

According to the affidavits, at around 3:20 a.m. Cpl. Josh Cannon was on patrol in the 2700 block of Central Avenue when he saw a blue Chevy truck turn left in front of him and cross the centerline four times. He conducted a traffic stop at the intersection of Werner Street and Central and made contact with Nelson and Burbank.

Cannon observed Nelson to be “acting extremely nervous” and had bloodshot, watery eyes. He asked him if he had had anything to drink and Nelson said he was just nervous because he had lost his mother’s debit card earlier. Cannon called for assistance from Deputy Justin Parker, who arrived and conducted a field sobriety test on Nelson.

Nelson was reportedly unable to complete two field sobriety tests and allegedly stated he “needed a drink” numerous times throughout the tests.

A search of the vehicle located 1 gram of meth, three oxycodone pills and four and a half alprazolam pills. Burbank’s purse reportedly contained six Bupropion pills, a Dilaudid pill and $100 bills and other cash that totaled $4,008.

En route to the detention center, Burbank allegedly told Parker she had more items concealed in a body cavity, and handed him four bags with a total of one Dilaudid pill, 18 Xanax bars and two morphine pills.

At the detention center, Nelson reportedly admitted he had recently taken Xanax, Adderall and Oxycodone.