Pottawatomie County sheriff’s deputies seized about 577 grams of methamphetamine late Wednesday night and arrested two suspects after they apparently got their pickup stuck along Old Highway 270 near Dale.
Sheriff’s Capt. Travis Palmer said in addition to the 577 grams of finished powder, deputies also confiscated about 1.5 pounds of cut product, which would have been about 3.5 pounds of street methamphetamine when finished.
“That’s a significant amount of methamphetamine,” he said, estimating its street value at about $30,000.
Palmer said this case started when authorities received a call about a woman being on the ground and a man trying to wave down traffic near the North Canadian River bridge east of Dale Wednesday night.
When Deputies Mark Burden and Eric Fletcher arrived, a passerby who had stopped to help the motorists was trying to help them pull their pickup back onto the road.
Deputies questioned the two traveling in the pickup and let the passerby leave. The male at the scene had no identification and gave deputies several different spellings of his reported name, Palmer said. Once deputies determined his actual name, they discovered he had an outstanding arrest warrant in McIntosh County.
As the scene unfolded, deputies located a pipe and a further search of the truck revealed bags that contained methamphetamine — about 577 grams of powder and the cut product, Palmer said. He said deputies arrested Robert Keitz, 26, Checotah, and Danette McNeal, 44, Stigler, at the scene.
Both were booked into the Pottawatomie County Public Safety Center on various drug-related complaints, including trafficking in illegal drugs. Keitz and McNeal remained jailed Thursday on $50,000 bond.
The case will be turned over to the district attorney’s office for consideration of any formal charges. As part of this case, $2,300 in cash also was seized, Palmer said.
Deputies were assisted at the scene by the McLoud Police Department and its drug dog.