KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Drugs above the kitchen cabinets. Drugs under the bed. Stacks of cash. A loaded gun under a pillow. A loaded rifle with a 40-round magazine.
Knox County Sheriff's Office investigators say they found hundreds of morphine pills, cocaine, heroin, bundles of money and weapons early Tuesday while serving search warrants at a West Knox County house.
Two Michigan men with prior felony convictions and a Knox County woman face multiple drug charges, warrants show. Authorities identified them as Santino Pitts, 31, Donte R. Woodward, 33, and Loren H. Carmack, 30.
Officers took them into custody after raiding a house at 7631 Chatham Circle.
Police say Michigan drug dealers have for several years been turning up in the Knoxville area, selling heroin and opioids and using Interstate 75 as a means of shipping drugs back and forth. Pitts' Michigan drug conviction dates to 2010 and Woodward's weapons conviction dates to 2009.
Narcotics and SWAT officers descended on the Chatham Circle house about 6:20 a.m. Tuesday. Pitts and Carmack were on one upstairs room, Woodward in another.
They found more than 540 morphine pills in Pitts' room, some in his pants pocket and some by the side of the bed, warrants state. They also found marijuana baggies on the bedroom floor.
When they confronted Woodward, they found a loaded 9 mm pistol under his pillow, warrants state. Officers also found more than 80 Opana pills in his dresser and a bag with 130 morphine tablets.
There were marijuana baggies throughout the room and an AR-style rifle under the bed.
Both men were found with neat stacks of $100 and $20 bills.
"In the common area of the upstairs at the top of the stairs, officers located a loaded and chambered AR-style rifle with a short barrel and a pistol stabilizer," warrants state. "A full, 40-round magazine was inserted in the rifle."
Above the kitchen cabinets downstairs, authorities also found about 6.75 grams of heroin, 12 grams of cocaine and scales, warrants state.
KCSO officers also served a warrant the same day at 1019 Olive St. in Knoxville. Warrants don't state what they found there.
The three were being held in lieu of bond Wednesday. They faced a jail arraignment Wednesday and an Aug. 5 General Sessions Court date.