Dad takes son's phone, leads cops to drug deal

By Joel Provano

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A man who found a suspicious text on his son's cell phone did a bit of detective work and led police to a teen attempting to sell marijuana, authorities said.

The man had confiscated his son's cell phone as punishment for an unrelated incident, according to the Newnan police report. He became suspicious after seeing several texts offering "$20 a gram straight from Hawaii."

He answered the texts and set up a meeting place for the deal -- the Olive Garden restaurant at Newnan Crossing, where the seller said he would be eating lunch with his mother and grandparents Saturday. The father contacted Newnan police, who agreed to accompany him to the Olive Garden, according to the report.

When they arrived at the Olive Garden parking lot, the man received a text about the drug deal and then got a phone call. The father "then observed a male subject on a cell phone calling out his son's name twice," the report stated. Police confronted the teen and when they searched him they found a white plastic pill bottle containing "a green leafy substance" and "detected a strong odor associated with marijuana," according to the report.

A juvenile report was filed and the teen was turned over to his mother. Her 16-year-old son was not identified.