An Owensville man facing three felony drug charges following his arrest Feb. 14 in the Walmart parking lot was scheduled to make his first Associate Circuit Court appearance this morning (Wednesday) in Hermann.

Matthew M. Cain was scheduled to appear at 9 a.m. after being charged Thursday with a class C felony count alleging delivery of a controlled substance, a D felony for endangering the welfare of a child, and unlawful use of a weapon for possession of a loaded Ruger .380 pistol while involved in a felony drug case. The pistol was located in his vehicle near where a minor child had access to the weapon, according to the PC statement.

A traffic stop during an ongoing drug investigation was cited in a sheriff’s department press release about Cain’s arrest. According to Gasconade County Sheriff Scott Eiler, one of his deputies and an investigator with the Lake Area Narcotics Enforcement Group (LANEG) were conducting an ongoing drug investigation which led to a traffic stop in the parking lot of the Owensville Walmart.

A juvenile white female was in the car with Cain when he was stopped. Lawmen requested the sheriff’s department’s K9 officer “Xena” be brought to the site for an “open air sniff of the vehicle.”

According to Eiler, Xena alerted her handler, deputy Lynch, of the presence of narcotics which gave lawmen probable cause to search Cain and the vehicle. According to the probable cause statement filed as the application for felony charges, Cain had approximately 17 grams of “crystal” methamphetamine in his jacket pocked which was divided up into three individual baggies.

He told investigators he forgot the crystal was in his jacket pocket. It field tested positive as meth, according to the warrant application.

Cain was transported to the Osage County Adult Detention Facility in Linn on a 24-hour hold pending the application for a felony warrant.  Cain’s bond was set at $25,000 cash or surety. The juvenile was turned over to her mother.

Cain posted bond and was released on Saturday, according to a jail deputy.

The pistol was on the floorboard between the driver and the passenger seats where lawmen allege the minor child would have had access to while in the vehicle. Two smoking pipes field-tested positive for methamphetamine, according to the PC statement. For those, Cain was charged with a class D misdemeanor for possession of drug paraphernalia.