A Gainesville man is behind bars after authorities said he was found with $60,000 worth of illegal drugs in a hotel last week.
B.J. Williams with the Hall County Sheriff's Office said an investigation into Meco Antwon Champion, age 51, started earlier this month when a warrant served at his home on Athens Highway yielded methamphetamine and packaging materials.
"There's no indication that anybody else was involved in this particular operation," Williams said. "It looks like, at this point, he was just acting on his own, perhaps as a smaller dealer."
The investigation led to authorities serving a search warrant at a hotel on Jesse Jewel Parkway at Prior Street on Wednesday, October 16. Investigators reportedly found Champion along with nearly 800 grams of meth, more than 30 grams of marijuana and small amounts of both crack and powder cocaine.
"In addition to the illegal drugs, investigators located a handgun, $1,440 in cash, also some scales and packaging material," Williams said.
Champion was arrested on a number of felony drug possession and trafficking charges and was booked into the Hall County Jail, where he remained without bond as of Tuesday morning.
U.S. Homeland Security reportedly assisted the sheriff's office in the investigation.
