2 charged with pot sales at Waffle House

By Toya Graham - The Herald

Randy Gene Stegall said he needed to raise cash. So the 54-year-old North Carolina man and a female cook, 60, sold marijuana from a booth at the Waffle House in Rock Hill, police said.

Now, the third-shift restaurant cook, Linda Stanley Toomey, is facing up to 15 years in jail. Stegall faces up to 30 years, police said.

Authorities earlier this week charged Toomey, of 616 Wyndale Road, Rock Hill, with possession with intent to distribute marijuana, according to an arrest warrant.

Stegall, of Gastonia, N.C., faces the same felony charge. It is his fourth drug-related offense, according to another arrest warrant.

Stegall, who is unemployed, said he sold marijuana for cash.

"I've been out of work for quite a while," Stegall said Thursday evening. "I didn't have any other choices. I've been selling a little bit here and there, trying to keep myself in spending money."

But someone caught on to the gig.

An anonymous caller tipped police that Stegall and Toomey were selling marijuana inside the Waffle House at 2553 Cherry Road, where Toomey was employed as a cook, said Marvin Brown, commander of York County Multijurisdictional Drug Enforcement Unit.

"You can't just sit in a Waffle House and sell marijuana," Brown said. "I know the economy is bad. They're going to have to find some other way to make money."

Armed with that tip, authorities started a drug probe around 2 p.m. Wednesday at the restaurant.

Toomey and Stegall were seen sitting in a booth talking with a man for about an hour before the man left, Brown said.

That man was stopped by police and checked and released.

Meanwhile, Toomey and Stegall walked outside the eatery and got in a car to leave. That's when police approached the pair and discovered their packaged drugs.

"They were going up there every week, selling dope out of a booth at the Waffle House," Brown said. "They supplemented their income by selling marijuana."

However, Stegall contends that he did not sell any marijuana at the Waffle House on Wednesday.

It is not clear how long the pair have been selling drugs from the restaurant booth, police said. Toomey was off duty at the time of her arrest, Brown said.

Toomey was not available for comment Thursday.

Lisa Wilson, a manager at the Waffle House, was stunned to learn about the charges.

"I had no idea that either one of them were doing that or I would have called the police myself," she said Thursday night. "I will investigate and see if Linda will continue to work at the Waffle House."

Wilson declined further comment.

On Wednesday, police seized 11 bags of medium-grade marijuana that was packaged to sell and a larger bag of marijuana used to make more bags from a car driven by Stegall, Brown said.

Authorities found two small bags of marijuana in Toomey's right front coat pocket, drug unit Sgt. Jim Lubben said. The drugs, a total of 63 grams, have a street value of nearly $250, he said.

"They were breaking the marijuana down into dime bags and selling them for $10 apiece," Lubben said.

It is not clear how many, if any, marijuana bags the pair sold that day; however, police recovered $263 from Stegall.

"I made a bad decision," he said. "I take responsibility for what I've done.

"I'm not going to do it anymore. I'm done."

Stegall was released Thursday morning on an $8,000 bond. His first court date is slated for March 2, he said.

Toomey's bond was set at $2,000, a York County Detention Center official said. She was released Thursday night.