Wednesday vandalism call morphs into nice drug bust with $31K seized

Editor's Note: This story has been updated to correct some information that was wrong in the original. One of the suspects was misidentified when the story was first posted. We apologize for any inconvenience this might have caused and are happy to set the record straight at this time.

By Paul Keane

The Wayne County News

A Wednesday afternoon vandalism called turned into an evening drug bust 
that resulted in the seizure of over a pound of marijuana and more than 
$31,000 in cash.

Two females --- Kelsi Feliciano and Cierra Nelson --- were arrested by the 
Waynesboro Police Department Wednesday night after a vandalism call at 
the Traveler's Inn that afternoon.

When officers arrived at the hotel around 3 p.m., they found that the 
room the women were staying in had been "totally trashed," according to 
WPD Chief Holt Ross. "There were pots, potting soil and all kinds of 
other items spread throughout the room."

The two women were not at the scene during that call, but officers were 
alerted that the women had returned to the hotel around 7 p.m. 
Wednesday.

"They were sitting there in a U-Haul and there was a young child --- 
about 1-1/2 or 2 years old --- in the cab with them," Ross said. 
"Officers picked up on a strong smell of marijuana and received consent 
to search the vehicle."

Officers found at least one weapon (a handgun), just over a pound of 
marijuana and cash totaling $31,401. All of those items were seized by 
officers.

Child Protective Services were called to the scene and the child was 
taken into protective custody by the state.

According to officials at the Wayne County Adult Detention Center, both 
suspects were not cooperative, even refusing to provide identification 
or addresses. It was not known on Thursday morning what city or state 
the two lived in.

Ross said both have felony charges in their past and that the drug 
charges expected to be leveled locally will also be felonies.

The chief also praised Narcotics Investigator Macy Torrey and Officers 
Chay Rogers, Riley Rives, Emily Revette, Alex Dailey and Kevin 
McDonald.

"All of the officers did a great job with this case," Ross said. "They 
did exactly what needed to be done with the child and waited for CPS 
while caring for the child.

"They also did a good job with the vandalism part of this case, putting
together the proper paperwork and measures so that the owner of the
hotel can receive some restitution for what was done to the room."

This story will be updated and published in the Thursday, Oct. 31 edition of The Wayne County News.