Car dealer pleads guilty after raid nets 416 pounds of marijuana

JACKSON — Federal court records say the owner of a used car dealership in Jackson has pleaded guilty to charges related to a raid on his business that allegedly uncovered 416 pounds of marijuana.

Jeremy Lee Stambaugh, owner of Paradise Auto Sales in south Jackson, was arrested at the car lot in February along with Johnny Earl Course and David E. Jones.

Stambaugh pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court in Jackson. The others have pleaded not guilty.

A court filing said sentencing is scheduled for Stambaugh on Aug. 2.

An affidavit filed by one of the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics Agent responsible for the arrests says investigators were acting on a tip “from an unproven confidential source” when they began to stake out the dealership. The tipster allegedly told authorities that there were men at the dealership breaking down a big bundle of marijuana and packaging it for distribution.

The affidavit said narcotics agents could smell marijuana coming from one of the buildings and Stambaugh signed a form allowing the agents to search the property. They found “unwrapped bales of marijuana” stacked against the wall of a building, the affidavit said.

Course tried to run while the scene was being processed, but he has already been handcuffed and was quickly caught, according to the affidavit.