TRINITY – The continuing search for a suspect in an Aug. 1 shooting has lead police to the seizure of more drugs and almost $2,500 in cash.
Police discovered the drugs and cash located in a car parked off Emily Street in Trinity while attempting to serve an arrest warrant for Tommie “Bug” Simmons, 22, of Trinity.
Simmons is wanted on a felony aggravated assault with a deadly weapon charge filed following the Aug. 1 shooting of Jarvis “J.D.” Tyson at Simmons’ residence located off Rockdale Street.
This marks the third time since the shooting police have seized drugs while attempting to locate and arrest Simmons.
Police Chief Steven Jones said the latest seizure came on Wednesday, Aug. 6, when he and Officers Jay Robinson and John Raiford went to a residence in the 100 block of Emily looking for Simmons.
While the officers were again unable to locate the suspect, they noticed a blue Chevrolet Impala parked nearby with the driver’s side window rolled down.
Jones said that when Robinson approached the vehicle, he spotted a bag of what appeared to be marijuana laying on the back seat.
“There was no one in the car but we believe there may have been someone sitting in the car when we arrived. I think they may have been selling drugs out of the car and became alarmed when we pulled up at the residence,” Jones said.
The chief said investigators believe the person in the car slipped away on foot while police were focused on the residence.
The marijuana spotted on the back seat was valued at about $20 but Jones said a subsequent search of the vehicle also uncovered five small bags of powdered cocaine valued at about $100.
A total of $2,479.44 in cash also was found in the car and Jones said police believe the money came from the sale of illegal drugs.
“The registered owner of the car has given us a statement that he knows nothing about the drugs or money that we found in the car,” the police chief said.
Jones said officers are still seeking to determine to whom the drugs and cash may belong. They hope to present information to a Trinity County grand jury in the near future.
The latest seizure comes on the heels of two other incidents that came during the hunt for Simmons.
The first came on the afternoon of Friday, Aug. 1, after Sgt. Thomas Park gathered enough information about the shooting to obtain a warrant for Simmons’ arrest.
At 2:30 p.m. that day, officers returned to the Rockdale Street residence in an attempt to serve the warrant.
Although they failed to find the suspect, officers spotted a man on the back porch with what appeared to be a partial “cookie” of crack cocaine. Upon seeing the officers approaching, the man fled into the nearby woods and managed to elude officers following a foot chase.
Police did recover the crack cocaine at the residence and indicated it had a street value of about $460.
Warrants charging Tommie Simmons’ brother, Tarence “T.T.” Simmons, with felony possession of a controlled substance and misdemeanor evading arrest have been issued.
The second incident came on Monday, Aug. 4, when officers again returned to the Rockdale Street mobile home in a second attempt to find Tommie Simmons.
When officers arrived at the scene, they spotted three men in front of the home. While checking them for weapons, a vial containing 38 “rocks” of crack cocaine valued at $760 was found on one of the men.
Before police could place him into custody, he broke and ran, escaping into the woods.
A second man at the scene was arrested after police found two rocks of crack cocaine (valued at $40) in his pocket. Donald Ray Hobbs, 30, of Trinity was charged with state jail felony possession of a controlled substance.