http://www.cullmantimes.com/local/x4...s-to-meth-bust

November 4, 2011
Wrong number: Phone call leads to meth bust
Authorities say man contacts CNET agent asking for drugs

By Justin Graves
The Cullman Times

CULLMAN, AL — Jerry Wayne Lambert dialed a number wanting to speak to “Chris.”
Well, the Blount County man got his wish.
Sort of.
While Lambert did get “Chris” on the phone, it wasn’t the one he was expecting.
Nor was the result of the favor Lambert asked.
Unless Lambert was expecting to land in jail, that is.
Attempting to buy drugs from a narcotics officer tends to work that way.
Lambert was taken into custody by agents with the Cullman Narcotics Enforcement Team after allegedly buying what he believed was methamphetamine from a law enforcement officer late Wednesday night.

How the controlled buy-bust was arranged was bizarre — and completely unexpected by CNET Agent Chris Thomason.
“I was walking out to my vehicle when I got a call from a number I didn’t recognize,” Thomason said. “When I answered the phone, the person on the other end asked, ‘Is this Chris?’ He said that he had gotten my number from someone in jail and wanted to know if I could help him out.”

Thinking that Lambert was in some type of trouble, Thomason obliged.

But then Lambert dropped a shocking request.

“He asked if I could give him a taste … he wanted to know if I could get him $30 worth of meth,” Thomason said. “That kind of took me off guard.”

Thomason was taken aback by the request. He didn’t lose focus on his role as a narcotics officer, though.

“I told him that I’d get right back to him, then I hurried over to the office and called him back on a recorded line,” Thomason said. “We set up a meet spot on (U.S.) 278 out past Holly Pond, and then we got everyone together and headed out there to meet him.”

With CNET Agent Becky Boyd observing from the vehicle, Thomason approached Lambert’s truck and allegedly sold him a small bag of what appeared to be methamphetamine.

Once Lambert allegedly handed Thomason $30 in cash, officers with the Cullman Police Department’s tactical team ignited a flash bomb and moved in to make the arrest.

“We used the flash bang because we didn’t know anything about this suspect,” Thomason said. “We didn’t know if this was someone trying to set me up; trying to lure me out there because of something that happened in the past.

“The tact team did a good job. As soon as the exchange was made, the flash bang went off and Lambert looked back, looked at me, and then the tact team had him in custody. (Lambert) was completely stunned when he found out I was a cop.”

Thomason said Lambert also had a hypodermic syringe in the vehicle. He was charged with attempt to commit a controlled substance crime, unlawful possession of a controlled substance and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia.

Thomason said he still doesn’t know who gave Lambert his phone number.
“It’s a mystery to me,” he said. “I don’t know if he made someone mad while he was in jail and this was their way of getting even, or if it was just a mistake. Who knows? All I know is that he made this arrest pretty easy … basically turned himself in without knowing he was doing it.”

While the nature of this arrest is bizarre, it’s not the first of its kind for CNET.
Something similar actually occurred a few weeks ago in Cullman when Shanda Renee Hyche, 42, of Addison, accidentally sent a text message to Cullman Patrol Officer Roy Bates asking if he had any drugs for sell.
Bates had recently been given a new personal cell phone number and CNET agents believe Hyche texted the number believing it still belonged to someone she had purchased drugs from in the past.

Hyche was arrested by CNET agents in the Walmart parking lot on Cherokee Ave. SW in Cullman on Oct. 13 for allegedly buying OxyContin and methamphetamine from an undercover officer.

“To have something like this happen once is odd, but twice is extremely unusual,” said Cullman Assistant Chief Craig Green, a 24-year veteran in law enforcement. “I’ve never seen anything like this before in my career.

“The funny thing is he didn’t just call a police officer. He called one of the most active narcotics officers in north Alabama, and I have to commend Chris (Thomason) because he stayed in character the entire time and reacted appropriately.”

Green said he believes that having two incidents of this nature occur locally in less than a month could be a sign that purchasing drugs in Cullman County has become more difficult.

“Or at least that’s what I hope,” he said. “Because of the hard work and joint effort between the Cullman County Sheriff’s Office, the Cullman Police Department and the Hanceville Police Department, there’s been a hard push to clean the drugs off the streets in our county.

“With drug users calling complete strangers trying to buy drugs, taking huge risks like that, hopefully this is a sign that it has become a lot more difficult to buy drugs in our county now, mainly because of the hard work done by these three departments and our narcotics officers with CNET.”

* Justin Graves can be reached by phone at 734-2131, ext. 225 or by email at justing@cullmantimes.com.