Playboy Playmate arrested, charged with trafficking cocaine in North Charleston
Friday, April 27, 2007
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BY NOAH HAGLUND
Playboy's December 2006 Playmate of the Month found herself ensnared in a North Charleston drug bust after housekeeping staff discovered more than a kilo of cocaine in the hotel room she shared with a personal trainer, police said.
Narcotics officers arrested Kia Terrell Drayton, 24, and Otis Leon Story, 33, both of Atlanta, after they emerged from a room at the Residence Inn near the North Charleston Coliseum Wednesday morning, arrest warrant affidavits state.
Both are charged with trafficking cocaine and possession of a firearm during the commission of a violent crime. Magistrate Linda Lombard set their bail Thursday morning at $2.2 million each. They remained at the Charleston County Detention Center on Thursday night.
In court, Drayton identified herself as a Playboy employee. On a Playboy-affiliated Web site, she describes herself as a military brat. She says she settled in Atlanta and has pursued a modeling career over the past several years.
The North Charleston Narcotics of The North Charleston Narcotics officers first learned Tuesday afternoon about a brick-shaped object wrapped in duct tape in a room of the Residence Inn Charleston Airport at 5035 International Blvd., an affidavit states.
Housekeeping staff had started cleaning Drayton's room, thinking she had checked out, a police report says. They noticed a black gym bag on top of a hotel safe and assumed it was left by mistake. An employee opened the safe and found the brick-shaped package.
The employee unwrapped the duct tape, then other layers of packaging to find a white powdery substance, the report states. Then staff contacted police. Officers put the room on round-the-clock surveillance.
Affidavits give this account of the arrest:
Drayton and Story returned around 9:20 a.m. Wednesday. Story drove a gold Cadillac Escalade with Georgia plates and Drayton was his passenger.
They entered the room together. Story left about five minutes later carrying a black bag. Officers moved in. The bag contained the brick that had been in the safe.
A search of the Escalade turned up two handguns, a .40-caliber Glock 22 and a .357-caliber Glock 32. Police said they seized 1,138 grams of a white substance that tested positive for cocaine.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration considers Georgia one of the main sources of cocaine in South Carolina, along with south Florida, New York and California.
Housekeeping staff had started cleaning Drayton's room, thinking she had checked out, a police report says. They noticed a black gym bag on top of a hotel safe and assumed it was left by mistake. An employee opened the safe and found the brick-shaped package.
The employee unwrapped the duct tape, then other layers of packaging to find a white powdery substance, the report states. Then staff contacted police. Officers put the room on round-the-clock surveillance.
Affidavits give this account of the arrest:
Drayton and Story returned around 9:20 a.m. Wednesday. Story drove a gold Cadillac Escalade with Georgia plates and Drayton was his passenger.
They entered the room together. Story left about five minutes later carrying a black bag. Officers moved in. The bag contained the brick that had been in the safe.
My comments are:
1) If they HAD checked out, their room key would not have worked.
2) If they had NOT checked out, hotel staff opening the room safe before checkout time was possibly illegal.
Hmmm, good eye Deano. I missed the 9:20 am return. That means they were cleaning the room before 9 am in order for Narcotics to get there and set up by 9:20.
However, that is assuming the arrest warrant affadavit is correct. We are talking about North Charleston Narcotics Squad, so who knows. North Charleston is Charleston's sloppy, red-headed step-brother.
One of my colleagues will likely get the case. It will be interesting to see where it goes. She threw out the Playboy name, so it hit the streets quickly and they will have a tough time giving up the next level without everyone knowing.
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