A Rockwell teenager arrested on drug charges Tuesday earned another felony charge when he went to jail with a bottle of pills concealed in his crotch area.
The mother of Thomas John Knudsen, 17, of 2580 Lowerstone Church Road in Rockwell, called officers when she came home from work and noticed a strong odor of marijuana coming from his room.
Beth Marze also reported that her son had caused damage in the house Tuesday morning by ripping a door off its hinges.
Rowan County Sheriff’s officers found 22 grams of marijuana, a set of scales and rolling papers in the room. They left and were called back after Knudsen returned home that evening to place him under arrest.
He was charged with possession with felony intent to manufacture, sell and deliver marijuana and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia.
According to the report, officers also searched others who Marze said had been in the room and were standing outside on the porch.
Jeremy Lynn Patton, 21, of 825 Brookfield Circle in Salisbury, was arrested and charged with simple possession of hydrocodone after the search revealed he was carrying 2.5 dosage units of the drug in a plastic bag. He was given a $1,000 bond and has since been released from the Rowan County Detention Center.
Authorities said that before being taken to jail, Knudsen and Patton were asked at the magistrate’s office if they were in possession of anything else, and they both said “no.” But detention officers found a prescription bottle with five Xanax pills hidden in Knudsen’s crotch area.
Knudsen was charged with felony possession of a controlled substance on jail premises. He then was placed back into the detention center under a $4,500 total bond.