Holland

THOMASVILLE — Narcotics agents were looking for sex offenders when they saw what appeared to be a pill-making machine dismantled into sections at a residence.

“It was not fully functional,” said Tyler Lamon, a Thomas County/Thomasville Narcotics/Vice Division agent.

Agents thought they knew what the apparatus was. Their research confirmed it was a pill-press machine.

Agents returned to the residence where they had seen the machine the day before, but it had been moved to a Short Broad Street residence.

Agents put the Short Broad residence under surveillance and eventually returned to the house, where they found the pill press reassembled and packaged in a shipping box.

Jarshawn Demetrius Holland, 23, 119 Holloway Lane, was developed as the prime suspect and was taken into custody. Lamon said the sheriff’s office forensics unit found Holland’s fingerprint on the pill press.

The machine was being used to make counterfeit Xanax, Lamon said. The pill press compresses chemicals into a pill that is ejected from the machine. The hand-cranked pill press seized could manufacture 200 pills an hour.

Lamon said the pill press also can make illicit pills, such as ecstasy.

“Any kind of pill they want to counterfeit, you can buy the mold,” the narcotics agents said.

Lamon said cellulose is the most common binder used in the illegal manufacturing of pills. Cellulose, along with other components used in the manufacturing of the counterfeit pills, was found at the Short Broad residence.

Holland, who was denied bond, is charged with possession of a Schedule I controlled substance with intent to distribute, criminal attempt to manufacture a Schedule I controlled substance, possession of tools for the commission of a crime and possession of a Schedule II controlled substance with intent to distribute. 

 

Senior reporter Patti Dozier can be reached at (229) 226-2400, ext. 1820