A 23-year-old Independence, Mo. woman faces a pair of felony drug possession charges after her recent arrest in a Platte County hotel room containing a cache of various illegal substances and a large amount of cash.
According to a probable cause statement, Kansas City Police Department officers responded to the Quality Inn at 11951 NW Ambassador Dr. on the night of Thursday, Jan. 15 for a welfare check on a resident believed to be doing drugs in a hotel room. A manager reported that since the guest, identified as Meghan L. Meade, checked in, multiple individuals were seen coming and going from her room throughout the day and night.
Officers knocked on the door multiple times, receiving no immediate response while hearing voices from inside the room. They also noted a smell of marijuana originating from inside.
At the same time, hotel staff noted a male exiting the room off of the balcony and leaving in a blue Ford Mustang. A search of the area did not turn up that suspect or the vehicle.
Meade eventually opened the door, and officers immediately detained the suspect and asked her about any illegal contraband or weapons in the room.
After declining to answer questions, Meade was taken to police headquarters while officers inventoried the room. They found $4,677 in a black backpack along with a digital scale and clear plastic baggies.
While searching a black suitcase, officers recovered a Mason jar containing 58 grams of a green leafy substance on top of clothes inside. Other items in the suitcase included multiple baggies containing a total of more than 100 unidentified pills, a tied-off baggie with five pills identified as the synthetic opioid Methadone, 0.95 grams of a white crystal substance and box containing unused syringes, needles and a tied-off baggie containing 28.47 grams of an unknown white powder.
Under testing, the green substance turned out to be marijuana while the crystal was identified as methamphetamine.
Meade remains in custody at the Platte County Detention Center on a $15,000 cash-only bond and faces up to 20 years in prison on the current charges.