ALTUS - Three civilian workers at Altus Air Force Base were put into the Jackson County Jail on Monday after being greeted at their work area by K-9 dogs with a nose for drugs.

William Keith Freeland, 39, Amos Scott Flores, 23, and Juan Martin Benavidez, 41, were charged with possession of marijuana following the spontaneous search at about 6 a.m.

According to a probable cause affidavit filed in District Court, the Office of Special Investigations at Altus AFB asked the Altus Police Department for assistance at around 4 a.m. with a search of the Ground Services Work Shop and the employees. An OSI agent informed police that several people were suspected of using marijuana while on the job.

As the workers came into the work area, the affidavit says, they were pat searched for weapons and asked to empty their pockets. They were also walking past the alert noses of drug detecting dogs courtesy of the Altus Police Department.

One of the workers, Freeland, was also allegedly found to have a small baggy of methamphetamine in his wallet.

According to Altus AFB officials, there were six civilian individuals who were found to have narcotics on them or in their vehicles. All six of the grounds and maintenance crew members working for the contractor WIMSCO have now been restricted from the base.

“I guess it is now up to the WYMSCO parent company to replace the workers,” said Michael Fletcher, editor of the Altus AFB newspaper The Patriot.

Altus Police Chief Mike Patterson, while acknowledging that a lot of people just do not take on work in the outdoors with temperatures in the triple digits, said, “They still don't need to be out there with narcotics in their pockets ... that is so dumb.”