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Austintown police arrest Salem man on drug charge
By ROBERT CONNELLY
AUSTINTOWN
Township police arrested a Salem man on felony drug charges for having in his possession ingredients that can be used to make methamphetamine.
Jamie A. Risbeck, 38, of Salem, is charged with felony manufacture of drugs/methamphetamine as well as misdemeanors of drug-abuse instruments and driving under suspension.
Police also gave him traffic citations for a cracked windshield and not wearing a seat belt and a verbal warning for not using a turn signal.
He will be arraigned at 1 p.m. Monday in Mahoning County Area Court.
According to a police report, an Austintown officer was driving on patrol about 2:43 a.m. Friday and saw a car turn without using a turn signal onto Oakwood Avenue, travel at a high rate of speed and again didn’t signal a turn onto North Navarre Avenue.
At that point, a registration check was done, which revealed the owner the vehicle was registered to had a suspended license, and the patrol officer observed a cracked windshield on the driver’s side.
The vehicle then turned left onto Mahoning Avenue and into the driveway of a friend. Later, the homeowner of that residence said they didn’t know who Risbeck was.
The police report said Risbeck was “extremely nervous and asked several times ‘Am I going to jail?’” He then gave consent to a search of his vehicle and said, “I’m good. I have nothing.”
Police, however, found five hypodermic needles and a silver spoon containing suspected heroin residue in the vehicle.
Risbeck said the needles were from a friend of his who had been in the car earlier.
A bag was found in the trunk that contained “several plastic bottles containing suspected methamphetamine oil, a funnel containing a white unknown substance and plastic hoses containing a white unknown substance and several filters,” the police report said.
Risbeck told police he transports the items in return for money.