Gentry woman arrested on drug charges and for endangering her unborn child

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

— Police arrested Melanie Oppenheimer, 20, of Gentry, on drug-related charges after responding to a suspicious circumstances call near her home at 200 South Giles Street on Thursday.

When Gentry Police Sergeant Dennis Edwards and Benton County Deputy Harold Gage responded to a call of a man walking around the neighborhood and making entry into an unoccupied house at 6:20 a.m. Thursday, they were looking for the man and saw that Oppenheimer’s front door was standing wide open, police reports state.

After calling to see if anyone was inside, Oppenheimer came to the door. Whiletalking to Oppenheimer, police saw a plastic bag of what appeared to be marijuana laying on a dresser inside the home, police reports state.

After receiving permission to check for the man insidethe home, Gage saw more bags of what looked to be marijuana and a small bag which he thought to be methamphetamine, beside a syringe.

After obtaining a search warrant, the house - located at 200 South Giles - was searched by Gentry police. Five plastic bags of marijuana, unpackaged marijuana and a scissors on a tray, a small plastic bag of methamphetamine, a syringe containing methamphetamine residue, rolling papers, marijuana pipes and other smoking devices were found, police, reports say.

According to police reports, Oppenheimer admitted to smoking methamphetamine about 12 hours earlier.

Oppenheimer was arrested and charged with possession of marijuana with intent to deliver (a Class D felony); possession of a controlled substance - methamphetamine (a Class Y felony); possession of drug paraphernalia (a Class C felony); and because she was pregnant, exposing a child to a chemical substance - methamphetamine (a Class Y felony).

Oppenheimer was being held in the Benton County Jail, with bond set at $25,000.

News, Pages 3 on 10/21/2009