Two Oregon diners were cuffed on drug charges after they left a waitress an envelope full of methamphetamine as a tip.
Ryan Bensen, 40, of Beaverton, and Erica Manley, 37, of Cascade Locks, were having drinks early Friday morning at the Twisted Fish in Seaside when they left a gift card to cover the tab — and a bunch of meth as gratuity.
The shocked waitress called police about 1 a.m. when she found the white crystalline powder, Seaside Police Chief Robert Gross told the Daily News.
“I think the waitress was stunned and probably offended that somebody would think she was a user of a methamphetamine,” Gross said.
Responding officers recognized the drug as meth and placed both patrons under arrest, Gross said. A subsequent search of Manley’s purse uncovered even more of the drug.
Cops searched the couple’s car and motel room and found more meth and items used to make the highly addictive drug.
Both were booked on charges of possession of methamphetamine and manufacture of methamphetamine, while Manley faces an additional charge of delivery of methamphetamine.
They’re both being held at the Clatsop County Jail awaiting arraignment.
Gross praised the waitress for “making the call to police and saying ‘no’ to more methamphetamine in our community.”
“It speaks volumes of the business community doing their part” to stop the drug’s spread in the small town, about 80 miles from Portland, Gross said.
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