BUCKHANNON – An Upshur County man with an active warrant from June 2022 for failure to register as a sex offender was arrested Thursday for driving revoked for DUI following a traffic stop on the Old Elkins Road.
Greg S. Haymond, 49, of Buckhannon, was arrested for second-offense failure to register as a sex offender and third or subsequent offense driving revoked for DUI, both felonies, and three misdemeanors: no insurance, possession of methamphetamine and possession of marijuana.
According to the criminal complaint in the Upshur County Magistrate Clerk’s Office filed by Trooper First Class P.J. Robinette with the Buckhannon detachment of the West Virginia State Police, Robinette was conducting routine road patrol around 4 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 15 on Route 151. During patrol, Robinette spotted a small, maroon 1998 Ford Mustang convertible headed east with a 2023 MVI sticker “that appeared discolored and falling off the windshield,” the complaint states.
Robinette had been traveling westbound but when he began to turn his cruiser around in the roadway to make a traffic stop, the driver of the Mustang convertible, later identified as Haymond, allegedly made an “abrupt” righthand turn without using his signal on Hunter Drive, the file says. The officer activated his lights and conducted a traffic stop on the convertible, which had pulled into a driveway on the left side of the road.
Haymond allegedly admitted the 2023 MVI sticker didn’t belong on the car and also reportedly told police he did not possess a valid operator’s license and had more than one conviction for driving revoked for DUI, according to the police report. He also said he did not possess valid registration or insurance for the Ford Mustang because he had just purchased it four days prior. Robinette asked Haymond to step out of the vehicle, and he was detained while the officer asked the W.Va. State Police Communications Center in Elkins to run his operator’s license.
The WVSP Comm Center informed Robinette that Haymond had two prior driving while revoked for DUI convictions with dates of July 29, 2020, and Feb. 25, 2014, the report says. The Comm Center also told police there was an active warrant out of Upshur County for failure to register as a sex offender with a date of June 27, 2022. Robinette subsequently placed Haymond under arrest, searched his person and allegedly found an empty part of a small plastic bag containing a white, powdery residue in his right watch pocket, the complaint says. Haymond allegedly admitted the white substance was methamphetamine but hadn’t used meth in about four days.
Robinette asked Haymond if there was anything illegal in the vehicle, and he said no and gave the trooper permission to search the Mustang convertible. At that point, Haymond asked Robinette to retrieve cash from a paycheck within the center console and when Robinette was getting it for him, he allegedly found “a closed silver metal tin and clear plastic cylinder container containing a green leafy substance with the appearance of marijuana wedged between the center console and driver’s seat,” Robinette wrote in the complaint.
When Robinette opened the silver tin, he allegedly found and seized three separate small clear bags all holding a clear, crystal-like substance. Haymond allegedly admitted the substance was methamphetamine he had recently purchased for $100, and Robinette discovered that the bags, in total, weighed 8.72 grams. The officer also found what appeared to be marijuana in the clear, plastic, cylindrical container, which weighed approximately 1.05 grams.
Upshur County Magistrate Mark Davis set bail at $30,000 cash or surety, and as of Monday, Haymond remained incarcerated in the Tygart Valley Regional Jail, according to the W.Va. Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
The penalty for a conviction of driving revoked for DUI third or subsequent offense is imprisonment for one to three years in the state penitentiary and a fine ranging between $3,000 and $5,000. In addition, the penalty for a conviction of second-offense failure to register as a sex offender is confinement in the penitentiary for a term of 10 to 25 years.
