Crystal Thomas, 47, of St. James was arrested March 6 during a traffic stop on North Jefferson Street. She is charged with allegations of one count of trafficking drugs in the first degree, a class B felony, and one count of unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia, a class E felony.

Thomas was taken into custody at the Phelps County Jail, where she remains. She was originally being held on a no-bond warrant, but after a hearing on March 10 where she pleaded not guilty, the court set bond at $250,000 cash or surety with the following added conditions:

• Defendant shall not violate the law. 

• Defendant shall appear as ordered in this case until it is disposed. 

• Defendant shall not possess a firearm or other deadly weapon. 

• Defendant shall consent to a search of his/her person, residence, vehicle or possessions upon request of a law enforcement officer or the OCCS office supervising Defendant.

• Defendant shall be supervised by OCCS, Inc, and shall report to the OCCS office in Rolla no later than 9 a.m. on the first business day following his or her release on bond. Bond supervision shall be at Defendant’s expense. 

• Defendant shall follow all directives of OCCS and the officer supervising his/her bond.

• Defendant is prohibited from using or possessing controlled substances without a prescription. 

• Defendant is prohibited from using or possessing marijuana. 

• Defendant is prohibited from possessing or consuming alcohol or alcoholic beverages. 

• Defendant shall submit to chemical testing of his/her blood, breath or urine to determine usage of controlled substances or alcohol as directed or requested by OCCS or the Court.

Thomas was indicted by a grand jury on March 12 and appeared March 24 in Judge Kenneth Clayton’s courtroom for an arraignment. No new information was printed before the newspaper’s deadline.

According to a probable cause statement filed by the St. James Police Department, at 9:40 p.m. on March 6, officer Timothy Gochanour conducted a traffic stop on a pickup truck pulling a trailer with no taillights on. Thomas was the passenger in this vehicle. 

Gochanour pat searched the driver of the pickup truck and felt what he suspected to be a glass smoking device. He observed the driver to be showing signs of nervous behavior and noted that he had observed him at a local gas station “known for frequent narcotic activity” on multiple occasions at late hours.

When Gochanour asked the driver if he had anything illegal in his vehicle, he began to say, “there shouldn’t be,” but then cut himself off and said no. The driver denied Gochanour’s request to search his vehicle. 

A K-9 unit from the Cuba Police Department was called to assist. The K-9 was deployed and alerted the officers to the presence of narcotics in the vehicle.

Thomas was in the vehicle, holding onto her purse and yelling that officers could not search her purse. She was placed under arrest and Gochanour searched her purse. He located three separate plastic bags containing suspected methamphetamine, a scale and a suspected methamphetamine pipe.

A test of the bags came back positive for methamphetamine. According to the police report, the total weight was 38.3 grams. Gochanour wrote that this amount “is not typical for personal use, and I believe she distributes the highly addictive drug to the general public.”