Photo by LCSO Corey Baker

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

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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.