Lee County woman faces meth charge
Malinda Alison Pedigo already faces insurance fraud charges
By Jim Hendricks
LEESBURG — A former Lee County insurance agent who was charged with insurance fraud last month now faces a drug charge, Lee County Sheriff’s Office officials said Tuesday.
Chief Deputy Lewis W. Harris Jr. said Malinda Alison Pedigo, 45, has been charged with one count of possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute. She was being held Tuesday in the Lee County Jail.
Harris said Tuesday the Lee County Narcotics Team served a warrant on Pedigo’s residence Monday morning.
“Pedigo was the only person there at the time,” Harris said. “A quantity of methamphetamine was recovered, and surveillance equipment was seized from the residence.”
Harris said law enforcement officials believe the surveillance equipment will be helpful in building leads in the drug investigation.
“Pedigo’s residence has been used as a hub of distribution for methamphetamine in the Lee County area for some time,” Harris said. “The Narcotics Team knows about Pedigo’s customers, but the surveillance DVR should give the Narcotics Team more leads on who Pedigo deals with.”
Pedigo was arrested Aug. 22 on three counts of felony insurance fraud and one count of felony conspiracy to commit a crime following an investigation by the Georgia State Board of Workers’ Compensation’s Enforcement Division. Christopher Joel Dowdy was arrested Aug. 23 following a brief stand-off with state and local officers and charged with a count of felony conspiracy to commit a crime.
Pedigo, a licensed Georgia insurance agent who is no longer employed, and Dowdy, who is known to install windows and vinyl siding, were accused of conspiring to create multiple fraudulent certificates of insurance indicating that Dowdy had workers’ compensation insurance. The pair then presented those certificates to a Lee County contractor, officials said at the time of the arrests.
Based on evidence obtained during the investigation, it was determined that Dowdy was uninsured, which has cost the general contractor more than $21,000 in additional premiums, officials said.
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