Police Make Drug Bust

On Wednesday, East Ridge police arrested three people on drug charges after a probation check.

According to a press release by the department, ERPD’s Crime Suppression Unit was assisting state probation and parole officers with a check on a probationer living at 6808 Martha Avenue. The address is listed as the residence of probationer Brandon Barry Clayborn. Citizens had complained about numerous cars pulling in and out of the residence, and in past weeks at least one confirmed overdose happened at the house.

During the probationary check, officers found 11 ounces of suspected methamphetamine in a black box safe in the bathroom of the home. Syringes, a digital scale and a pipe were also found inside the safe. Elsewhere in the house police found 15.3 grams of suspected methamphetamine, 12. 2 grams of suspected marijuana, more than six grams of cocaine and three Xanax bars, the press release states.

Brandon Clayborn

A receipt with the name of Whitney Boatner was found inside one of the bags of marijuana, the report states. She is the girlfriend of Jonathan Beck, Clayborn’s roommate. Bech told officers that the couple had been staying at the house for a couple of weeks. Boatner, 29, of Ider, was found to have active, extraditable warrants on her out of Alabama, the report states.

All three have been charged with Criminal Conspiracy, Manufacture/Delivery/Sale/Possession of Methamphetamine, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia.

In addition, Clayborn was charged with Possession of Cocaine for Resale, Possession of Schedule IV for Resale and Possession of Marijuana for Resale.

About Dick Cook

Dick Cook has lived in East Ridge since the Kennedy Administration when his parents bought a house on Marietta Street. Dick graduated from ERHS in 1976 before going on to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga where he studied Political Science. Dick worked for the Chattanooga Free-Press and the Chattanooga Times Free Press for 22 years. Free-Press Sports Editor Roy Exum plucked him out of production in 1989 and gave him a job as a sports reporter. Dick covered everything from prep sports to the whitewater events on the Ocoee River for the 1996 Olympics. When Chattanooga's two paper's merged, he became the Crime Reporter covering both the Chattanooga Police and Fire Departments. He was among reporters who were honored by the Associated Press for the TFP's coverage of the 2002 fog-shrouded crash on I-75 in Catoosa County, Dick and his wife, Cathy, live on Marlboro Avenue where they are seen frequently chasing around their three grandsons.