A fight at the Motel 6 off Athens Highway in Gainesville Friday night landed four people in jail on drug charges.
Officer Nick Smith with the Gainesville Police Department's Community Relations Unit said officers were called to the motel at 1585 Monroe Drive just before 4:30 p.m. on March 19. He said they responded to the report of a fight, which turned out not to be serious, but they did find some drugs on the scene during the course of the investigation.
"Ultimately what happened is the four subjects who were involved were discovered to be in possession of heroin, meth [and] drug-related objects," Smith said.
He said the amount of the illegal drugs was not substantial, but one of the suspects had several social security cards that did not belong to him.
Nelson Heddings, 30, of Gainesville was charged with fraud and identity theft because he was in possession of the social security cards. He and the other suspects - Jamie F. Heddings, 54, of Cleveland, Gail S. Smith, 61, of Clermont and Robert J. Armour, 59, of Cleveland - have all been charged with possession of heroin with intent to distribute, possession of methamphetamine and possession of drug-related objects.
Smith said the incident should serve as a reminder to the community that ID thieves are active.
"There are people out there who are still actively trying to defraud others and use their identity incorrectly for financial gain, and that includes these street level criminals...it's not always a cyber attack," Smith said.
