A Mountain Grove man was arrested Monday night after police say he fled from officers and discarded suspected drugs while running from a burglary call. According to a probable cause statement filed in Wright County, Master Patrolman Brandon Meacham responded to 237 East 17th Street around 8:11 p.m. on July 6 for a report of a burglary involving a man armed with a knife. The suspect was described as a white male wearing a yellow shirt and carrying a black backpack.
Meacham wrote that he spotted a man matching the description walking across the Royal Inn Motel parking lot. As the officer pulled up with emergency lights activated, the man “looked directly at me, dropped the backpack and began running west towards North Main Street.”
Officers detained the suspect, identified as James Everett Hillhouse, near North Main Street. Hillhouse, who is on Probation and Parole for two prior controlled‑substance convictions, admitted to tossing a glass smoking device and a small black bag while fleeing. Inside the bag, officers reported finding a cut straw containing white crystal residue, a plastic bag with brown powder, and a receipt holding additional white crystal substance.
Meacham stated that Hillhouse told him the brown powder was methamphetamine. Field tests confirmed both the white crystal substance and the brown powder tested positive for meth. “A field tester was used on the white crystal substance inside the receipt and it tested positive for methamphetamine,” the report states.
Hillhouse was arrested on suspicion of possession of a controlled substance and resisting arrest by fleeing. The case was electronically filed July 7 in Wright County Associate Court. His bond is set at $5,000.
