Fake cocaine results in felony charges

Local News

September 1, 2010

Patti Dozier CNHI The Times Enterprise Wed Sep 01, 2010, 06:12 PM EDT

THOMASVILLE — A drug deal that goes bad with authentic contraband can get ugly. Things can become even uglier when the contraband is not the real thing.

Whether the substance being offered is authentic or fake, the charge is a felony, as in a Tuesday case involving a Thomasville teen and a 20-year-old man, a former outstanding high school athlete who signed a letter-of-intent with Carson-Newman College.

Thomas County/Thomasville Narcotics/Vice Division agents, acting on a tip about 4 p.m., were looking for a Jeep with big tires and black rims that was supposed to deliver powder cocaine to a business on U.S. 319 near U.S. 19.

They were looking for Preston “P.J.” Williams Jr., former quarterback for the Thomas County Central High School Yellow Jackets.

“We were told he would be with Evan Qualheim,” said Kevin Lee, who heads the narcotics/vice division.

Qualheim, 18, was driving, with Williams as a passenger, when the Jeep turned off U.S. 319 onto Hill Road. “They also had a small child in a car seat in the back,” Lee explained.

As officers stopped the vehicle, they saw something thrown from a window. The object was a torn bag containing a white, powdery substance, Lee explained.

“It appeared efforts had been made to destroy the contraband,” Lee explained. A powdery substance also was found in the Jeep.

“One of the suspects admitted they were taking something to another person. They said it was not cocaine, but some type of pill crushed to look like cocaine,” the commander said.

Qualheim, 404 Habersham Road, and Williams, 4445 Hall Road, are charged with transaction involving a non-controlled substance represented as a controlled substance, a felony. Williams also is charged with felony obstruction.

Williams was released from the Thomas County Jail on a $2,500 bond, while Qualheim is out of jail on a $2,000 bond.

“Any drug deal can go ugly, go bad, particularly when the buyer realizes the ‘drug’ is fake,” Lee said.

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