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Writer's pictureClassic City News

Suspicious car leads to felony drug arrest


Taniqua Raynell Hardy

By Joe Johnson

The manager of a motel in west Athens Friday morning reported a suspicious car in the parking lot and an investigation resulted in the arrest of an occupant of the vehicle on felony drug charges, according to an Athens-Clarke County police report.

The manager of Howard Johnson Inn on West Broad Street called police at about 3:30 a.m. to report an occupied car had been parked outside for about 20 minutes, and upon the arrival of police officers the lone occupant, identified in the report as 39-year-old Taniqua Raynell Hardy of Winterville, told the officers she had just returned from dropping off a friend.

While speaking to Hardy, the report notes, an officer saw unspecified drug paraphernalia on the driver’s seat, at which time the woman was detained and a search of the car found a bag containing less than a gram of heroin, and three bags of methamphetamine with a total weight of 8.4 grams, according to the police report.

Hardy reportedly explained that her friend dropped the drugs into her purse.

Hardy was booked into the county jail on charges of possession of methamphetamine, possession of heroin, and possession of drug-related objects.

As of Saturday afternoon, she remained jailed in lieu of a $50 bond.

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10 Comments


Watching&Wondering
Watching&Wondering
Aug 14, 2022

Unfortunately, while in jail she will not get treatment for her drug addiction (assuming she is addicted) unless she was already receiving treatment with medication prior to her arrest. She will be forced to go without drugs “cold turkey” & unless the judge amends the bond order, when she makes bail, she will return to her habit. Sadly, statistics show that most addicts released from jail/prison will end up ODing within a week of their arrest because their bodies are no longer capable of tolerating the level of drug use as prior to the incarceration. Even more disturbing, about 25% or more will die within a week of release.

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Unknown member
Aug 14, 2022
Replying to

If by "treatment" you mean methadone... Methadone is worse than heroin and rarely results in sobriety. The best and only effective treatment is cold turkey. The best thing the judge could have done was deny bond until she had gotten through withdrawals and then allow her to enter an inpatient rehab facility.

You are correct overall though, the judge is more or less handing a suicidal person a gun with that bond.

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Unknown member
Aug 14, 2022

The best possible thing the judge could have done for this woman is keep her in jail until she's past the withdrawal stage and then give her the option of entering an inpatient rehab facility before trial/sentencing.

Giving her a $50 bond is wasting an opportunity to save a life. Shameful.

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johnbgurley
Aug 13, 2022

anybody seen a follow up on this story from a year ago? https://www.classiccitynews.com/post/prosecutorial-misconduct-leads-to-mistrial-in-oconee-co-rape-case

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David King
David King
Aug 13, 2022

$50 bond? Is that all? I would think those bonds are higher for drug possessions.

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Replying to

Jails aren’t drug-free, unfortunately. The best place for an addict is detox.

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