A driver stopped in Lawrence Hollow last week cautioned a deputy to be careful with the lockbox in the floorboard of his vehicle, saying it contained his mother’s ashes. The deputy said it contained four baggies of methamphetamine and a stash of paraphernalia.

Michael Allen Burgess, 28, Bloomfield, was arrested by Deputy Sgt. Jordan Allor of the Greene County Sheriff’s Department early Tuesday, December 14.

Late on Monday, December 13, Sgt. Allor and Deputy Camron Frye were trying to find a wanted man in the Lawrence Hollow area of eastern Greene County. Sgt. Allor was parked at the intersection of North Lawrence Hollow Drive and Bruce Drive when he saw a blue 2001 Chrysler Town and Country turn south onto North Lawrence Hollow Drive without signaling the turn. The vehicle’s registration sticker was expired. When Sgt. Allor got behind the vehicle, he notcied it was driving on the edge of the roadway near a path that leads into a wooded area. The wanted man they were looking for lived on the other side of that wooded area.

Sgt. Allor hit the red and blue lights to make a traffic stop but the Chrysler kept going south toward the path. He said he was expecting the occupants to get out and flee on foot through the woods but the Chrysler then drove off the roadway and tried to drive on the path, but got stuck in a ditch.

Sgt. Allor reported that due to the tense, uncertain and rapidly evolving circumstances, he got out of his patrol vehicle for a high risk stop. The driver was later identified as Michael Burgess, who got out of the Chrysler with his hands up. Deputy Frye was on scene to handcuff Burgess, who said he was driving off the road to put “No Trespassing” signs up around his property. Two signs were found in the vehicle.

Burgess’s driver’s license was suspended and he had a prior conviction for driving while suspended – his license is not eligible for reinstatement until 2025. Burgess said he thought there was something wrong with his turn signal and he said he thought he could drive in Lawrence Hollow but not on the highway. When first told his license was suspended, Burgess said, “That’s why I wasn’t leaving the Holler.” Sgt. Allor advised him that Bruce Drive and North Lawrence Hollow Drive are both county roads and he can’t drive on them.

Since there was no licensed driver for the vehicle, the deputies started an inventory of the vehicle prior to towing but then Burgess told Sgt. Allor there was a lockbox in a yellow plastic Dollar General bag on the front passenger side floorboard that contained his mother’s ashes. Burgess asked Sgt. Allor to be careful with it.

Just as Burgess said, Sgt. Allor located the lockbox in the yellow bag on the floorboard. He opened it and found it contained a digital scale, four ziploc bags containing a white crystal substance that field-tested positive as methamphetamine, a glass smoking device, a metal snorting device, a homemade smoking device and a silver spoon.

When Sgt. Allor showed the lockbox to Burgess and asked him if it was the lockbox he was talking about, Burgess allegedly said yes. Then when Sgt. Allor told Burgess there was drug paraphernalia and methamphetamine inside the lockbox, Burgess said the lockbox was not his and he didn’t know whose it was.

Burgess was arrested and transported to the Greene County Jail where he was booked in at 1:53 a.m. Tuesday, held without bond pending court appearance.

A female passenger who was with Burgess in the vehicle was not arrested.

Burgess is facing charges of:

Possession of methamphetamine, a Level 6 felony,
Possession of paraphernalia, a Class C misdemeanor, and
Driving while suspended – a knowing violation with a prior conviction within 10 years, a Class A misdemeanor.