By Patti Weaver

 

  (Stillwater, Okla.) — A Stillwater man with two prior methamphetamine convictions has been jailed on $50,000 bail pending a Nov. 2 preliminary hearing on charges of trafficking methamphetamine and possessing a loaded pistol while driving on a suspended license in Stillwater in July.
    Due to his criminal record, Christopher Cole Simmons, 34, could be given two life prison sentences plus a year in jail and $110,500 in fines if convicted of all three counts.
    Simmons had been arrested at 11:05 am on July 26 after being stopped in the 5600 block of N. Washington for not having a valid driver’s license, an affidavit alleged.
    “Christopher was visibly shaking and appeared extremely nervous,” during the traffic stop in which Detective Josh Carson saw a glass methamphetamine pipe in the vehicle’s floorboard, Stillwater Police Officer Brett Moore alleged in an affidavit.
    “I opened the driver’s door and observed a black Smith & Wesson pistol, magazine and chamber-loaded, in the driver’s door panel. I knew Christopher to be a convicted felon and prohibited from possessing firearms,” the officer alleged in his affidavit.
    A binocular case on the center console contained digital scales and a sandwich-style bag with 22.6 grams of a substance that tested as methamphetamine, the affidavit alleged.
    Simmons had previously been convicted of possessing methamphetamine with intent to distribute, possessing methamphetamine, and second-degree burglary in separate cases in Payne County in 2015, for which he was jailed for one year followed by probation with Drug Court that he completed in 2018, court records show.
    However, in 2019 Simmons was found in violation of his probation and given one more year in jail, court records show.