Photo by LCSO Corey Baker

Even in times of national economic hardship, authorities still frown on paying your rent with drug money.

Check out our FREE online Bill Pay!

That is a lesson being learned the hard way by one Corey Baker, 19, 902 S. Jeffers, Room #4.

Baker was arrested Nov. 1 in his room at Knight’s Inn Motel and charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, possession of a prescription drug without a prescription, and possession of drug paraphernalia.

A North Platte Police Department spokesperson said that when he was arrested, Baker admitted to the officer that he had been unable to find a job and was selling marijuana to pay his rent.

Police received a call reporting “drug activity” originating in Baker’s room at the motel, the spokesperson said. An officer arrived and spoke with Baker.

The suspect consented to a search of his room and told the officer he had a marijuana pipe inside, the spokesperson said.

The search also turned up the prescription medication prednisone, which is used to treat inflammatory diseases and sometimes cancer.

Baker did not have a prescription for the drug, and the pills were not in a prescription bottle, so he was unable to prove the drugs were his.

Several baggies with marijuana residue were discovered as well.

Possession with intent to deliver is a class-three felony and carries a maximum penalty of twenty years in prison, a $25,000 fine, or both. It carries a minimum of one year in prison.