Atlanta Man Arrested For 22-Pounds Of Pot

By Danielle Johnson, NBC

August 16, 2007

Aiken County deputies arrested a man from Atlanta after they found thousands of dollars in marijuana in his rental car. It happened Sunday morning at the intersection of Old Edgefield and Atomic Roads in North Augusta.

Aiken Co. deputy finds 22 pounds of marijuana in passing car’s trunk

Aiken County investigators say Kelvin Spencer of Atlanta had just pulled off from filling his tank at this gas station Sunday morning. That’s when a deputy noticed the rental car he was driving didn’t have a license plate.

After pulling Spencer over, the deputy say he smelled a strong odor from the car. He then checked the trunk, in it more than a 22-thousand dollar’s worth of marijuana. Spencer was immediately arrested and charged with drug trafficking.

“I was surprised because I thought they cleaned up the area over here,” says Brenda Young.

Brenda Young just moved back to this neighborhood to raise her two daughters. She left it 10 years ago because of drug activity had escalated.

“Especially in this area it was real bad. You could hardly walk out the door without somebody trying to sell you something,” she says.

While neighbors are relieved about the arrest, others say the problem is going away fast enough and want more to be done.

“I would like to see them patrol more cause it’s different now,” says another neighbor.

Why Spencer was in the area is still under investigation. He’s being held at the Aiken County Detention Center awaiting a bond hearing. He could face charges in Atlanta as well.