Traffic stop for broken headlight leads to arrest of Athens woman on drug trafficking charge

Ashley Nicole McCannon

By Joe Johnson

A vehicle being driven with a broken headlight early Thursday led to the arrest of an Athens woman on drug trafficking and other felony charges.

According to Athens Clarke County police, Ashley Nicole McCannon, 22, of Arthurs Lane was a passenger in a 2005 Ford Explorer with only one working headlight that an officer stopped on Harve Mathis Road at about 1:50 a.m.

While speaking with the vehicle’s occupants, Lt. Shaun Barnett explained, officers could smell the odor of marijuana and they saw a glass jar with apparent marijuana residue.

The SUV was subsequently searched, he said, and officers located a bag belonging to Mccannon that contained 48 grams of methamphetamine, along with suspected hallucinogenic mushrooms, and wax paper containing a brown sticky substance suspected to be THC wax.

McCannon was arrested and charged with trafficking methamphetamine, and two counts of possession of a Schedule II substance.

The 22-year-old male driver was not charged, and McCannon was taken to the county jail, where the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office placed a hold on her arrest due to pending firearms charges in its jurisdiction.