Suspect who fled after traffic stop, drug bust caught

A suspect who was on the loose after he slipped away from deputies while they arrested another suspect Saturday night has been arrested.

Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey said around 8:30 p.m., a Rankin County interdiction deputy pulled over a silver Ford pickup on I-20 near Pelahatchie on a traffic violation. Suspecting the vehicle was transporting drugs and contraband, the deputy asked for permission to search the vehicle.

READ: 3 Hattiesburg residents indicted in drug trafficking

The search by K-9 officer Astra revealed two and a half gallons of liquid methamphetamine in juice containers. The deputy was in the process of securing the passenger, 18-year-old Rebacca Lynn Whiting, when the driver, Felix Josue Colon-Rodriguez, 27, fled on foot.

The arresting deputy radioed for backup, and officers searched the area for Rodriguez for some time and were initially unable to find him. Pelahatchie police caught and arrested Colon-Rodriguez Sunday around lunch time.

Both Whiting and Colon-Rodriguez are from Albertville, Alabama.

The street value of the methamphetamine is approximately $300,000, authorities said. Liquid methamphetamine is a fairly new form of the drug which is made when meth is dissolved in water, which makes it easier to disguise during transportation.

Whiting was charged with trafficking methamphetamine and was booked into the Rankin County Jail. No bond has been set.

SEE ALSO: Cecil McCrory sentenced in prison bribery case

Contact Therese Apel at 601-961-7236 or tapel@gannett.com. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter.