Pound of cocaine seized from vehicle

RED BAY — Three people are facing drug trafficking charges after a pound of powder cocaine with a street value between $10,000 and $15,000 was seized from within a vehicle in Red Bay.

Franklin County Sheriff Shannon Oliver said an agent with the Lawrence County Drug Task Force was tipped to an operation where about a pound of cocaine was leaving West Point, Mississippi, headed for Red Bay on Jan. 22.

Three people and a 2-year-old child were inside a vehicle, which was carrying the cocaine, that arrived in Red Bay and was stopped by law enforcement.

A search was conducted after a K-9 unit alerted to the odor of narcotics coming from the vehicle.

Darius Jones, 38, of West Point, Mississippi, Stephanie Wofford, 37, of Houston, Mississippi, and James Daryl Smith, 38, of West Point, Mississippi, were taken into custody by law enforcement.

A plastic bag, among other bags of items in the trunk, was found containing approximately a pound of powder cocaine, Oliver said.

The Department of Human Resources was also called to the scene since the 2-year-old child, who was Wofford’s grandchild, was found in the vehicle not secured in a child safety seat.

Wofford was arrested and charged with drug trafficking and chemical endangerment of a child.

Smith was arrested and charged with drug trafficking, chemical endangerment of a child, certain persons forbidden to possess a firearm, possession of an altered firearm, two counts of unlawful possession of a controlled substance (buprenorphine sublingual strips) and having a controlled substance in a medicine bottle labeled for a different substance.

Jones was arrested and charged with drug trafficking, chemical endangerment of a child, and giving a false name to law enforcement.

All three are being held in the Franklin County Jail on $100,000 cash bonds.