MURFREESBORO – The work of the Murfreesboro Police Department has produced the arrest of four men on unrelated drug charges.

MPD Chief Darrell Rowe said the most recent of those arrests came at 11:19 a.m. on Saturday (Oct. 26) when Officer Tyrone Ruffin performed a traffic stop on Main Street after noting the driver was not wearing a seat belt.

Upon speaking to the operator of the vehicle – 57-year-old Gloton W. Murphy of Boykins, VA – at the driver’s side window, Ruffin noted the smell of marijuana in the car. He asked the driver for consent to search, and after being granted that request Ruffin discovered five bags of marijuana.

Murphy was charged with two felonies – possession of marijuana and maintaining a vehicle to store a controlled substance – as well as misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia. He was placed in the Hertford County Jail under a $10,000 secured bond.

Ruffin was also the arresting officer on Friday, Oct. 25 when drugs were discovered in a vehicle driven by 34-year-old Arthur Lashaun Dukes Jr. of Murfreesboro. Ruffin performed a traffic stop on Dukes’ vehicle after observing it not stop at a stop sign.

Assisted by MPD Officer David Griffith and his K-9 partner (“Jager”), Dukes was found in possession of two sandwich baggies – one containing approximately $1,300 worth of crack cocaine and another containing marijuana.

Dukes was charged with felony possession with intent to sell and deliver crack cocaine, felony maintaining a vehicle to store a controlled substance, and misdemeanor possession of marijuana. He was placed under a $17,500 secured bond and taken to the Hertford County Jail.

Two local men were arrested in separate cases on Tuesday, Oct. 22.

The first came at 4:24 p.m. when Demetrius T. Nixon, 26, of Ahoskie was stopped by MPD Officer William Barmer for speeding in a school zone.

Aided by Officer Griffith and Lt. Joe Burgess, “Jager” alerted the officers to the presence of drugs. A subsequent search of Nixon found a baggie containing crack cocaine secreted within in his body.

Nixon was charged with felony possession with intent to sell and deliver crack cocaine, felony maintaining a vehicle to store a controlled substance, and misdemeanor possession drug paraphernalia. He was placed in the Hertford County Jail under a $25,000 secured bond.

At 9:45 p.m. on Oct. 22, MPD Sgt. Jamie Dilday performed a vehicle stop, assisted by Officer Ruffin who observed the driver, 44-year-old Albert M. Grant of Severn, with his right hand under his leg. When Grant was asked to exit the vehicle, the officers observed him place his right hand inside his pocket. He was ordered to remove his hand from his pocket, at which time the officers observed several items fall to the ground, later determined to be crack cocaine.

Grant was charged with felony possession of cocaine, misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia and misdemeanor resist, delay and obstruct. He was taken to Winton and placed in the Hertford County Jail under a $6,000 secured bond.

“I’m very proud of my officers for being on the street and observant,” said Rowe. “They carried out these arrests professionally. I hope that the citizens of Murfreesboro realize that these officers are out there doing their jobs, days and night, and making our streets safer.”