24-year-old Morgan Payne is charged with selling fake heroin. Goodlettsville Police say she admitted to buying heroin and cutting it with Benefiber before selling it to her friends, however, none of the ready-to-sell white substance, packaged in lottery tickets, tested positive for any controlled substance.
Goodlettsville police discovered the fake drug scheme after Officer Zachary Scannell conducted this month’s most petty traffic stop. On December 17th, Officer Scannell says that he observed a vehicle driven by Morgan Payne fail to come to a complete stop when exiting a gas station parking lot onto Long Hollow Pike. Scannell stopped the vehicle for “emerging alley” according to an arrest warrant. He requested to search the vehicle, but consent was denied, so K-9 Ruger conducted an ‘open-air sniff’ of the vehicle, and alerted, according to the report.
During the search, Officer Scannell located three dextromethorphan pills, which are over-the-counter (AKA ‘ Wal-Tussin Cough ‘), and do not require a prescription in Tennessee. Despite the law, Scannell swore out a warrant, approved by Magistrate Daniel Masten, charging Morgan Payne with drug possession without a prescription.
The search then continued to other parts of her purse, where officers found approximately 15 folded lottery stubs folded up and containing a white substance, along with a plastic bag also containing a white substance. After being read her Miranda Rights, Payne is said to have admitted to buying Heroin from an individual in Nashville in the lottery stubs, and then cuts it with Benefiber, which she admitted was the substance in the bag, before providing it to ‘friends’. All suspected powder was tested for controlled substances, and none had a positive response.
Morgan Pay was charged with distributing a counterfeit controlled substance, and possession of a drug without a prescription. She was booked into the Metro Nashville jail and freed on pre-trial release.
| Payne, Morgan | 121 SOUTHBURN DR Hendersonville, TN 37075 | Pretrial | Fel.Counterfeit C/S |
| Payne, Morgan | 121 SOUTHBURN DR Hendersonville, TN 37075 | Pretrial | Legend Drug Poss |
