MOULTRIE, Ga. — When a drug deal turned into a robbery attempt, Colquitt County deputies say, a Valdosta man fled — and left his girlfriend behind.

Joseph Chason, 24, 3352 Bemiss Road, Valdosta, was charged with criminal trespass after he broke into a house, claiming it was to escape the armed robber.

In the early hours of Saturday morning, June 17, deputies were dispatched to the 5000 block of Ga. Hwy. 133 South in reference to a subject being shot, according to the CCSO incident report. 

Chason was making a drug deal for methamphetamines with his girlfriend on the dirt portion of Wesley Chapel Road, the report said, when the dealer attempted to rob the two at gunpoint. 

Chason “fled on foot and believed they were chasing him,” according to the report. Chason also stated that he believed the robber had “taken his girlfriend and the car and was going to kill her.” 

CCSO Investigator Ronald Jordan said on Tuesday that, after Chason left the scene, he reached a home where he “knocked on the door very loudly” but was not let in. He then “busted out the window on the door to gain entry to the house.”

“Deputies conducted their investigation of the area and found no evidence of a shot being fired. They later determined that the injuries Chason had sustained were due to the fact that he had broken into the home,” said Jordan.

EMS determined that Chason’s injured hand would need stitches but he declined medical treatment, according to the sheriff’s office report. He also admitted that he had “taken a Xanax” prior to the event, the report said. 

Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office was contacted the next day in regards to Chason’s girlfriend. She was found unharmed in her Valdosta home and corroborated Chason’s story of being robbed at gunpoint the previous night.