By Shavonne Walker

shavonne.walker@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — Rowan County authorities said they caught two people buying drugs in the parking lot across from the Sheriff’s Office.

A man and a woman were charged with drug possession.

Bryan Mayes, 41, was charged with felony possession of methamphetamine. Taylor Allison Stotts, 22, was charged with misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia, misdemeanor possession of a Schedule VI controlled substance, and misdemeanor possession of a Schedule IV substance.

According to the Sheriff’s Office, a blue Honda Civic pulled into a reserved parking lot where Sheriff’s Office and judicial personnel park. The car backed into a parking space reserved for a detective. The driver moved to another spot when the officer arrived.

Detectives could see the activity from their offices, a report said.

After some time, a detective saw that the car was still there with a woman in the driver’s seat and a man in the back passenger seat. The man got out of the vehicle with what looked like a pill bottle, then put something in his mouth.

The man also dropped trash on the ground.

Two detectives who were watching approached the vehicle.

One of them asked the two why they were in the parking lot and why they threw trash on the ground. The detective asked the man what was in his hand, and the man handed the detective a pill bottle. The bottle, which did not have a label, had a small bag of methamphetamine and Xanax bars inside.

The detective asked Stotts if there was anything else illegal in the vehicle. She said she had some marijuana roaches in her purse in the front seat, according to a report.

The officer searched the vehicle and found a pill bottle with “alprazolam” written on it, but it contained marijuana roaches and 20 pills.

The bottle belonged to Stotts’ mother.

Another pill bottle found had another name on it and at some point contained alprazolam an anti-anxiety drug.

Stotts had a pill bottle with her name on it but she told the detective her alprazolam was at home.

Mayes was issued a $5,000 secured bond and was released from the Rowan County jail.

Stotts was issued a $3,000 secured bond and also was released.