Wrong number: Suspected drug dealer texts cop
GREENSBORO, N.C. — A North Carolina man is facing a handful of drug charges after sending a text message to the wrong number.
Billie Joe Scales, 59, of Belews Creek, N.C., thought he was texting a man named Ricky with an offer to sell drugs, but he actually was communicating with a North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation agent, authorities said.
"There's probably a better chance of winning the lottery I would think honestly," Scott Williams, special agent in charge, said Wednesday. "He just inverted a number wrong or just had a wrong number, and he ended up texting a SBI agent without even knowing it and arranging a crack cocaine deal."
Scales has been arrested before, but Williams said the man never has been on his department's radar and would have no reason to have an agent's cellphone number.
"He thought he knew who he was texting because he used a name he thought our agent was," Williams said. "But he just had the wrong number."
The agent who received the text didn't tell Scales about his mistake.
"He said, 'I got this text message. What do you think I should do?' I said, 'Well, let's text him back and see what happens. I'm sure he'll eventually figure out that you're not who he thinks he's texting.' "
Instead, the agent negotiated a deal. The seller picked a location to make it final.
"Every text we're like, 'There's no way he's going to do this'," Williams said. "But every text is like, 'OK, we're leaving. I'll be there in 20 minutes,' and we're like, 'OK, we'll be there, too,' and hoping he'd arrive."
Scales showed up Tuesday and found a man he thought was Ricky waiting in the black Dodge Charger as one of the texts promised, Williams said. He didn't know the car or phone number belonged to the state investigators.
"We move in on him and arrest him and find the crack cocaine under the seat of the passenger vehicle," Williams said.
Scales was charged with sale and delivery of a Schedule II controlled cubstance and possession with intent to sell or deliver a Schedule II controlled substance. The man who was driving Scales was also charged.
James Andrew McIntyre Jr. was charged with maintaining a vehicle for the sale of controlled substances. Special Agents seized more than 3 grams of crack cocaine, worth more than $200, four cellphones and a tablet computer.
McIntyre was not in jail Friday. Scales remains in Guilford County Jail and has a July 1 court date.