Skyline Drug Task Force arrests three area residents for marijuana distribution

Three people have been arrested on various drug charges related to an investigation by the Skyline Drug Task Force.

The incident began Wednesday with a call from a concerned citizen about a suspicious white van on Route 6 near Afton Mountain in Nelson County. Police located the van in Augusta County and initiated a traffic stop at around 10:50 a.m. As a result of the traffic stop, an ounce of marijuana was recovered from the vehicle.

The van’s driver, Gregory J. Ward, of Staunton, was charged with one felony count of possession of marijuana with the intent to distribute and the van’s passenger, Shannon N. Farrar, 39, of Stuarts Draft, was charged with one felony count of possession of marijuana with the intent to distribute.

Information developed through those arrests, led the Task Force to execute a search warrant at a residence in the 2300 block of Afton Mountain Road in Nelson County at 2:15 p.m. Wednesday (March 29). Investigators recovered a half pound of marijuana from that residence and discovered an illegal marijuana indoor growing operation. Kevin B. Kartheiser, 32, of Afton, Va., was then taken into custody and charged with one felony count of possession with the intent to distribute marijuana and one felony count of manufacturing marijuana. Ward was charged with a second felony count of possession of marijuana with the intent to distribute.

Kartheiser was released on an unsecured $5,000 bond. Ward and Farrar are currently being held without bond at the Middle River Regional Jail in Verona.

The investigation remains ongoing at this time.

The Skyline Drug Task Force is composed of investigators from the Waynesboro Police Department, Staunton Police Department, Augusta County Sheriff’s Department, Nelson County Sheriff’s Department and Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation’s Appomattox Field Office.