The Madison County Sheriff’s Office responded to a call regarding a vehicle parked in the middle of the roadway on Saturday, April 30, at 5:57 p.m.
Deputy Jared Dewey was dispatched to SW State Road 14 in reference to the report of a parked vehicle; upon his arrival to the scene, Deputy Dewey found that the vehicle in question had been moved to the side of the road.
Madison County Sheriff Ben Stewart reports that the driver (identified as Jonathan Charles Booth, 37, of Valdosta) appeared to be asleep in the driver’s seat.
Deputy Dewey woke Booth up to check on his wellbeing and Booth seemed disoriented and spoke with slurred speech.
Deputy Dewey instructed Booth to exit the vehicle to assess any possible impairment. While standing next to the vehicle, Booth was unsteady on his feet. Deputy Dewey believed Booth to be under the influence and requested Booth to submit to field sobriety exercises. Booth refused the field sobriety exercises and requested to take a breathalyzer test.
Deputy Dewey utilized a portable breath tester as requested by Booth. The test results showed no alcohol content.
Deputy Dewey still believed that Booth was under the influence of some type of intoxicating substance and deployed K9 Max to conduct a free air sniff around the exterior of the vehicle. Max gave a positive indication for the presence of narcotic odor coming from the vehicle. During a probable cause search, Deputy Dewey located an opened pack of synthetic marijuana in the center console along with two unopened packs of synthetic marijuana on the back seat. Booth also had a pack of synthetic marijuana and a partially smoked synthetic marijuana cigarette in his pocket. Booth was arrested without incident on charges of possession of synthetic marijuana and drug paraphernalia.