MPD Arrest Man for the Same Drug Crime Less Than Two Months Later

Just before 10 p.m. on Friday, a Missoula Police officer conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle that had expired registration. The vehicle pulled over and the officer identified 27-year-old Braydon Elkins. MPD Detective Sergeant Rick Stevenson explains.

“They made contact with Mr. Elkins and determined that he was in possession of drugs and drug paraphernalia both on himself and in his vehicle,” Stevenson said. “He was subsequently arrested for those offenses.”

According to court documents, the officer noticed a small piece of tin foil in the vehicle that burnt residue on it. The officer noted this was consistent with tin foil used by drug users to cook illegal drugs. When confronted about the tin foil, Elkins grabbed the tin foil, crumpled it up, threw it on the floorboard and indicated it was not drug paraphernalia. The officer also observed a cap for a hypodermic syringe on the vehicle’s floorboard. When the officer searched Elkins, he found a small baggie containing a crystalline substance. Elkins told the officer it was salt, but the substance tested positive for methamphetamine. Elkins is being charged with felony criminal possession of dangerous drugs and drug paraphernalia. In May, Elkins was arrested for having heroin at the Missoula County Jail.