CPD arrests suspect in multiple drug crimes

While investigating a disturbance call in the 400 block of Conley Road Sunday night, Columbia police officers said they were made aware of an SUV in which illegal drugs were being kept.

The SUV was reported to be in the nearby Walmart parking lot just after 10:30 p.m.

Officers say they spotted the vehicle and approached it, immediately recognizing the odor of marijuana coming from the vehicle.

Inside the SUV was George Washington Norman III, and when officers searched him, they say they found a white powder substance that tested positive for cocaine in Norman’s pocket.

“[The substance] was packaged into approximately 10 individual bags,” said CPD spokesperson Officer Latisha Stroer. “Also on Norman’s person was approximately $617. $480 of that total was in $20 bills.”

Police also found bags of marijuana and a pill bottle with no label containing controlled substances.

Norman was arrested on suspicion of felony possession of a controlled substance, misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance, and unlawful distribution of a controlled substance.

Norman was booked into the Boone County Jail with combined bond amounts equaling more than $11,000.