Galveston County Sheriff's Deputies Wednesday  evening arrested a former Santa Fe, Texas city council candidate and his fiancee on warrants charging them with Possession of a Controlled Substance.

The case against 23-year old Michael Aldous and Meghann Smith, 25,  was made by Galveston Police narcotics officers when they were summonded to the San Luis Hotel on the Galveston Seawall on May 15th. Then a quantity of cocaine was discovered in a room the pair had rented.  After collecting the narcotics and other evidence from the room,  the Galveston County District Attorney authorized  warrants  for their arrest.  They were both charged with a third degree felony narcotics possession and Aldous was later charged with resisting arrest when he refused to cooperate with the arresting deputies.

In a statement released Wednesday night, Sheriff's Major Ray Tuttoilmondo said,  "Late this afternoon, Galveston Police requested the assistance from Galveston County Sheriff's Office with executing two arrest warrants they obtained as a result of a narcotics investigation.

"Warrant deputies from the Sheriff's Office were able to initiate a surveillance of one of the suspects, who was stopped at a residence in the 3700 block of Avenue F in Santa Fe. As deputies attempted to arrest that suspect, identified as Meghann Leigh Smith, 25, of Santa Fe, a number of persons, believed to be friends and family of both suspects, began approaching the deputies  who felt threatened by their presence. One of those persons was identified as the second wanted suspect, Michael Lee Aldous, 23, also of Santa Fe.

"Deputies were able to defuse the situation and took Smith and Aldous into custody. Both were taken to the Galveston County Jail, charged under the warrants with Possession of a Controlled Substance. Their bonds had been set at $5,000 each.

"Sheriff Poor commented that based on information he received from the scene, he believed his "deputies handled the situation very professionally, given the potential for the matter to get out of hand."

During his campaign for a seat on the Santa Fe City Council, in which is father, Warren Aldous also ran, the two promised voters that if elected they would try to slash the budget of the Santa Fe Police Department in half.  Michael was battered in the press for making derogatory remarks against "homos" referring to an announced gay candidate.

Both father and son were soundly defeated at the polls after it became public knowledge that both had had brushes with police and been arrested. Michael Aldous was on bond on a DWI charge when arrested on the drugs charges Wednesday.

He is a recent graduate of law school and Meghann Smith, also a law school graduate, recently took the state bar exam.  It is not clear what effect these latest charges will have on either of their law careers.

Breck Porter, The Police News
editor@thepolicenews.net