He didn't mean to pay his water bill with crystal meth - but it's what employees found, Ark. cops say

“Check your bills for contraband before you put them in the dropbox.”

That’s what Greene County Sheriff David Carter said after an Arkansas man was arrested when employees at the county water utility opened his bill payment and found a chunk of crystal meth inside, reported KAIT.

The sheriff’s department said James Hoey dropped off his bill at night and “somehow” left more than 7 grams of crystal methamphetamine in the envelope along with his payment.

Police searched the man’s home and turned up another 38 grams of meth, along with scales, pipes, a grinder, pills and marijuana, the sheriff’s department said.

“No surveillance, not a lot of legwork ... that's a large amount of meth for around here, so it worked out great for us,” Sheriff Carter told KAIT. “It tickled me to get it off the street because he was a dealer.”

He was booked into the Greene County Detention Center and charged with possession of crystal methamphetamine with purpose to deliver, possession of a schedule 4 drug with purpose to deliver and possession of drug paraphernalia, the department said.

This story was originally published March 21, 2018 at 2:08 PM with the headline "He didn't mean to pay his water bill with crystal meth - but it's what employees found, Ark. cops say."