Photo: Mac Chason
A Flippin man told puzzled police about seeing people vandalizing his truck, others sitting in two empty motel rooms below his and a witness in a vehicle across the street who could verify his story.
The problem was 57-year-old Mac Chason was the only one who could see them.
Chason appeared during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday, pled guilty to possessing methamphetamine, drug paraphernalia and public intoxication and was put on probation for three years.
A Mountain Home police officer went to the Econo Lodge in late January last year to speak to Chason about the situation, but the Flippin man told the officer he did not want to file a report on the incident at that time.
Officers were contacted a second time and told to return to the motel to speak to Chason yet again.
According to the probable cause affidavit, Chason laid out a story about the vandal kicking his truck, the people in the two empty rooms and a witness in a vehicle parked across the street on the lot at the Hampton Inn who could verify his story.
Chason kept yelling about the witness, and police were unable to convince him there was no witness and that the vehicle he kept pointing out on the Hampton Inn parking lot was unoccupied.
Officers took Chason to his room. They were informed by dispatch he had a signed waiver on file permitting warrantless searches of his person and property.
Chason said he was aware the waiver was in effect.
Police began to notice what appeared to be paraphernalia used to ingest drugs in the room.
When the officers asked Chason about a spoon with residue on it and small cotton swabs in it, he said the items had been in the room when he checked in.
He backed off that story and told police a girl he had met had left it in the room.
The officers reported seeing a sock lying on the floor. When it was kicked over, a loaded syringe containing a liquid field testing positive for methamphetamine was uncovered.
At that point, Chason was cuffed and taken to the Baxter County Detention Center.
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