A safety road check being conducted in Hancock County on Friday, June 2, shortly before midnight, resulted in the detainment of a man and a woman, and the discovery of four ounces of methamphetamine, cellphones, and battery chargers. The items were found inside two footballs. Authorities believe the illegal items were going to be smuggled into Hancock State Prison near Sparta. Items are pictured in this photo provided by the Georgia State Patrol post in Milledgeville.

SPARTA – An ongoing internal investigation is underway at Hancock State Prison near Sparta after local and state authorities seized four ounces of methamphetamine, cellphones and battery chargers during a safety road check around midnight Friday, June 2.

The illegal items were discovered inside two footballs, authorities said.

Two persons stopped at the checkpoint, which was conducted at the intersection of Ga. Route 15 and Ga. Route 22 just north of Sparta, were detained and questioned by lawmen, according to Cpl. Matt Baxley of the Georgia State Patrol post in Milledgeville.

Only one person was arrested. The passenger in the woman’s car was detained at the request of investigators with the Georgia Department of Corrections, the agency now conducting a probe to see whether or not the illegal drugs and other contraband were intended to be smuggled into the state prison.

Three state troopers, along with a pair of deputies with the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office and a K-9 officer and dog with the Georgia Department of Corrections had only been at the road check for less than a half-hour before they stopped the driver of a 2015 Nissan Altima.

“The car was traveling south on Ga. Rout 15 headed toward Sparta from Greensboro,” Cpl. Baxley told The Union-Recorder.

He identified the driver of the car as Tiffany Thrill, 32, a bartender from Duluth.

“When she approached the road check, she stopped at my location and I spoke to her,” Baxley recalled. “While speaking to her I could tell she was showing signs that she was under the influence of some type of drug. She was very hyper, excited and animated.”

The state trooper said he told the woman to pull to the shoulder of the roadway where he asked to get out of her car so he could perform field sobriety tests.

When Thrill stepped out of the car, Baxley said he noticed that the passenger in the car appeared “extremely nervous.”

She later was charged with driving under the influence of drugs, the state trooper said.

Baxley added that the passenger’s breathing was rapid and saw that the man wouldn’t look directly at him.

“He stared straight ahead,” Baxley said. “He was far more nervous than the average person should be.”

An air sniffing of the car by one of the K-9 dogs later led lawmen to search the car.

“I asked her (Thrill) if there were any drugs in the vehicle and she just stared at me, and I said, well I’ll take that as a yes,” Baxley said.

The passenger, identified as Mestor Moreno, 21, of Lawrenceville, was later asked to get out of the car while the car was searched.

“When I started searching, I found two footballs on the front passenger floorboard that had been cut open,” Baxley said. “And inside one of the footballs were several cellphones, cellphone chargers, cellphone batteries, lose tobacco, and a grocery bag with rolling papers.”

The other football contained more cellphones, some marijuana and two big bundles of methamphetamines, he said.

“It ended up being four ounces of methamphetamine,” Baxley said. “An ounce is considering trafficking.”

Authorities also discovered 16 bundles of marijuana, each wrapped in electrical tape.

The search also turned up two saws and a pair of wire cutters that they believe were also going to be smuggled into the state prison for inmates’ use, Baxley said.

Criminal charges still were pending against the woman and man as of Friday afternoon, authorities said.

Baxley said he talked with an investigator with the Georgia Department of Corrections at Hancock State Prison about the traffic stop and exactly what had been seized.

“I turned all of the evidence over to him in this case,” Baxley said.

Moreno reportedly admitted to lawmen at the scene of the traffic stop that he and Thrill were going to the state prison, Baxley said.