Staff Reports
Two people were arrested on drug- and gun-related charges in Columbus on Tuesday as a result of a multi-agency narcotics investigation.
Columbus/Bartholomew County Joint Narcotics Enforcement Team, Columbus Police Department and Indiana State Police conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle seen leaving a hotel on Columbus’ west side, said Lt. Matt Harris, Columbus Police Department spokesman.
During a search of the vehicle, officers located approximately four pounds of marijuana and a handgun, Harris said. Both the driver of the vehicle, Shawn I. Vanarsdale, 45, of 2103 S. County Road 825W, and his passenger Nicole A. Spatola, 42, of 3135 S. County Road 150W, were detained.
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A search warrant was obtained for the hotel room that Vanarsdale checked into earlier in the day. During a search of the room, troopers from the Indiana State Police located 408 grams of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia including a scale and several glass pipes, Harris said.
Vanarsdale and Spatola were placed under arrest and transported to the Bartholomew County Jail where they were remanded on the following preliminary charges:
Vanarsdale: Dealing in methamphetamine, dealing in marijuana, possession of a handgun without a permit, possession of methamphetamine, possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia
Nicole Spatola: Possession of methamphetamine
Vanarsdale was being held in the Bartholomew County Jail in lieu of $200,000 bond, jail officials said.
Spatola was released on the jail’s program that allows qualifying offenders to be released without posting bail, jail officials said. However, her bond was set at $61,000, according to jail officials.
The Joint Narcotics Enforcement Team, a combined unit of the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Office, the Columbus Police Department and the Bartholomew County Prosecutor’s Office is proactively targeting the manufacturing and abuse of dangerous drugs in Columbus and Bartholomew County.
