Checkpoint, Chase Leads to Two Arrests

Two people face charges after a high speed chase last week in Stephens County.

According to Stephens County Sheriff Randy Shirley, it started when members of the Stephens County Sheriff’s Office were conducting a highway safety checkpoint last Friday on Oak Valley Road at South Red Rock Road.

Shirley said while there, deputies encountered a vehicle that attempted to avoid the checkpoint.

“Deputies observed a gray Cadillac approaching and then it immediately made a U-turn,” said Shirley. “Deputies ordered the vehicle to stop. He accelerated. Deputies were able to catch up to the suspect. Speeds reached in excess of 100 miles an hour going up Oak Valley Road towards Toccoa. As they were pursuing the gray Cadillac, they noticed it had an expired paper tag and the driver was throwing items out of the window.”

Shirley said those items were thrown out of the passenger side window in the area of Brookdale Extension.

He added this was witnessed by pursuing deputies and several citizens who wrote witness statements regarding what they had seen.

According to Shirley, the high speed chase ended when deputies were able to box in the Cadillac before it reached Big A Road.

The sheriff said after stopping the vehicle, deputies went back to obtain the items that had been thrown from the window.

“They were able to recover an ounce of crystal methamphetamine, marijuana, and also a prescription pill vial with medication inside with the name of the driver, Anthony Nalley,” said Shirley.

Shirley said the Sheriff’s Office Narcotics K-9, Gunner, also alerted authorities to contraband in the Cadillac.

The sheriff said his office arrested the driver of the vehicle, 35-year-old Anthony Barry Nalley Jr. of Toccoa, and the passenger of the vehicle, 31-year-old Brittany Shirley of Toccoa.

Both were charged with Trafficking Methamphetamine and Misdemeanor Possession of Marijuana.

Nalley is also charged with several traffic offenses including Felony Fleeing and Attempting to Elude and Reckless Driving.

According to the sheriff, authorities also seized digital weighing scales, baggies, more than $6,000 in cash, and the vehicle used by the suspects during the arrest.