Police find crack cocaine rock stashed in ceiling of Rock Hill motel room

A man was arrested after police found a crack cocaine rock they say he stashed in the ceiling of a Rock Hill motel room.

A desk clerk at the Microtel Inn & Suites on Riverview Road in Rock Hill on Thursday told officers he could smell a strong odor of marijuana coming from a room, according to a police report. An officer who respended smelled the odor and knocked on the door; it took the occupant about two minutes to answer, a report said.

Ramesh Clarence Reid, 26, who answered the door, told officers he had smoked a marijuana blunt not long ago, a report said. He allowed officers to search the room.

In the bathroom, an officer saw a cracked ceiling tile that appeared out of place from the others, the report states. There was a shoe print on the edge of the bathtub under the tile. Just inside the ceiling tile, an officer found a plastic wrapper containing a rock of crack cocaine, a report said.

Reid’s shoes matched the print on the bathtub, and the right shoe had a fresh wet spot on it, police said. Reid denied knowing anything about the drugs when asked, and told officers his shoe was wet because he was cleaning his shoes with a paper towel and water earlier, a report said.

The officer noticed only the front part of Reid’s right shoe was wet, the report states. Reid later admitted that the drug was his and that it was crack cocaine, a report said. Police charged him with possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine-third and subsequent.

A friend of Reid’s who was trying to sleep in the room when police arrived denied knowing anything about the crack and was not charged.

This story was originally published November 28, 2016 at 1:46 PM with the headline "Police find crack cocaine rock stashed in ceiling of Rock Hill motel room."