BUCKHANNON, W.Va. (WBOY) — A man has been charged after two separate incidents in which deputies located methamphetamine during traffic stops in Upshur County.

On March 7, deputies with the Upshur County Sheriff’s Department performed a traffic stop on a vehicle for “crossing the center double line numerous time” while in the area of Sago Road, as well as having an expired W.Va. registration, according to a criminal complaint.

When deputies stopped the vehicle, they made contact with the vehicle’s driver, identified as Tony Metlzer, 39, who “admitted to possessing a methamphetamine smoking device and methamphetamine under the driver’s seat of the vehicle,” deputies said.

Deputies then performed a search of the vehicle, in which they located the smoking device, as well as three bags of presumed methamphetamine “packaged for delivery,” the complaint states.

After Metzler was given his Miranda statement, he told deputies that he used “leftover residue from smoking devices used to smoke methamphetamine to vaporize the moisture from it and manufacture it into reusable methamphetamine, and repackaged it as such,” deputies said.

At that point, Metzler gave deputies consent to search his cell phone, and in Metzler’s recent messages, there was a conversation about “delivering methamphetamine” … “in exchange for work to a vehicle,” according to the complaint.

In a separate criminal complaint, also filed by the Upshur County Sheriff’s Department, on June 23, deputies were in the area of Heaston Ridge Road and W.Va. Rt. 20 when they observed a vehicle “without a center mount brake light,” inside of which, Metzler was a passenger.

Deputies then learned that Metlzer had three outstanding arrest warrants for the previous incident on March 7, and placed him into custody, deputies said.

During that time, deputies located methamphetamine on Metzler’s person and then performed a search of the vehicle, which resulted in deputies finding 28.7 grams of methamphetamine in seven different bags, which Metzler claimed ownership of, according to the complaint.

Metlzer has been charged with multiple counts of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance. He is being held in Tygart Valley Regional Jail.

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