Woman arrested after caught allegedly selling drugs at the ARCH
AUSTIN, Texas - A woman was arrested after officers caught her reportedly selling marijuana at the ARCH in downtown Austin Sunday morning.
Omonique Overton, 23, was charged with felony possession of a controlled substance.
An Austin police officer driving near the ARCH observed a tan 2009 Nissan Altima with paper tags with the flashers on and the front seats leaned all the way back with a person in the driver's seat, says an arrest affidavit. According to the officer, the driver appeared to be trying to conceal themselves, so he ran the tags and found the car to be Overton's.
The officer says in the affidavit he recognized her name as she "is a well known narcotics deal who frequents the area around the ARCH". Overton was recently arrested in February for possession and in April for delivery of a controlled substance.
Another officer was monitoring the HALO cameras and observed a skinny black man wearing a clear/see-through rain smock walking to and from Overton's car. According to the affidavit, the man opened the front passenger door and retrieved something from inside the car, placing it in a small zip up container, while Overton was looking behind her in her rear view mirror.
The officer says the man walked back to 7th Street by the ARCH and began selling what the officer suspected to be crack cocaine to several individuals. The man began walking back to Overton's vehicle once he'd made his sales before noticing an officer stopped at the light at 7th Street and Neches Street and quickly turning around, says the affidavit.
He was detained and searched, and officers found the small zip up container but it was empty. One of the officers drove up to Overton's Altima and noticed a black man stepping away from the car. The officer monitoring the cameras advised he had just made a deal with Overton, says the affidavit, and the officer on scene said Overton has a "scared/nervous facial expression" and was reaching downwards out of view.
The man did not comply with verbal commands and put whatever he had purchased from Overton in his mouth and appeared to swallow, according to the affidavit. He told officers he had paid $5 for the marijuana and ate it when officers arrived because he got scared.
The officer noticed a plastic baggie containing what he recognized as marijuana in plain view near the gear shift, says the affidavit. Overton denied it was hers, but she was the only one in the car. She told officers she and the man had been discussing him possibly detailing her car. The officer had Overton get out of the car and placed her in handcuffs.
Overton asked the officer to write her a ticket, stating she was already out on five bonds. When she was asked to step back so the officer could pat her down, the officer says Overton flicked her fingers and dropped several different-colored pills with different symbols on the ground, says the affidavit.
The officer identified these as Ecstasy, finding three whole pills and smaller pieces of broken pills. They tested positive later for MDMA. She denied ownership of the pills as well. According to the affidavit, Overton had a wadded up dollar bill in her hand with colorful residue similar to the pills.
The man who had been walking between the ARCH and Overton's car initially denied any involvement beyond being close to Overton, but then later said that he got the crack from Overton to sell, according to the affidavit.
Both men were released at the scene. Overton was transported to the Travis County Jail. According to the affidavit, while at the jail nurse, Overton said "I sell a lot of drugs, if y'all do y'all's job y'all would catch me." She also said "I caught 5 cases and only 1 b------ case stuck,” "none of those b------- DC's stuck."
Bail was set at $7,000.