The three members of the Motorhome Diaries returned to Jones County this weekend for the first time since they were arrested by the Jones County Sheriff’s Department in May.

Jason Talley, Pete Eyre and Adam Mueller, who took to the road in April “searching for freedom in America,” were heading north through Jones County on Interstate 59 when they were stopped for a tag check.

“We were coming through Mississippi,” Eyre recalled Saturday. “We had a meet up in New Orleans, and were going to a breakfast in Meridian (when we were stopped).”

Eyre said the deputy that pulled the RV over said he wasn’t familiar with the temporary tags on the vehicle, which were from New Hampshire. “He asked how many other occupants, and if we had any drugs or guns,” he said.

Eyre said that when Mueller stepped out of the vehicle with a video camera, deputies said he was going to jail and put him in handcuffs. “I’m still wondering why Adam was arrested,” he said. “In an e-mail, the sheriff said videotaping Jones County deputies while in their official duties was not illegal.”

JCSD Public Information Officer Shaunita Weathersby has said Jones County Sheriff Alex Hodge cannot comment on a case that’s pending in court. However, in earlier statements, Hodge said, “I am proud of our deputies handling of this traffic stop. I have demonstrated my willingness to admit when we are wrong. However, in this case, they handled themselves in a proper and professional manner.”

Eyre said Talley, who had been asleep in the RV, was pepper sprayed and choked.

“They said they were putting me in cuffs for their safety and our safety,” he said. “They kept trying different techniques, asking whether I had drugs and I kept telling them no.”

Eyre said a deputy used a drug dog to sniff out the RV, and said that the dog triggered.

“I didn’t see the dog do anything,” he said. “I know that they can be trained to false trigger. When I said that, the deputy asked if I was calling him or his dog a liar.”

Talley said that after the three were placed in the back of a squad car, a deputy told them to have a good day. “It seemed like they thought they could do whatever they wanted to,” he said.

Eyre said the trio’s troubles continued upon arrival at the Jones County Adult Detention Center. He noted that Talley wasn’t allowed to wash the pepper spray out of his eyes until after they were booked, and they weren’t allowed a phone call for more than eight hours.

Eventually, Eyre said the three were given various charges for arrest. Eyre, 28, was arrested for possession of beer in a dry county and an unknown offense; Mueller, 26, was arrested for disorderly conduct and disobeying a police officer; and Talley, 34, was arrested for disorderly conduct, disobeying a police officer, and resisting arrest.

Eyre said the Jones County Sheriff’s Department also mishandled evidence. He noted that their video cameras, which had the footage erased, and an unopen beer can were not seized as evidence. Two guns he owned, which he had left disassembled, were also not put anywhere safe when the RV was towed.

Talley said word quickly spread of the trio’s legal woes and more than enough money was soon gathered to post their bail. They used the other funds to decorate their RV, with the group’s logo, various bumper stickers detailing their political views and decals of various sponsors.

“There were 300 to 500 phone calls placed with the Jones County Sheriff’s Department and Attorney General’s Office,” he said.

Talley, who said the trio’s rent for 2009 is tied up in the project, said the situation has cost them both money and time.

“We’re hoping to get a not guilty verdict and go back at it,” he said. “We couldn’t get into Canada, and they cited what happened in Jones County. We have a lot of people we wanted to see there and were really disappointed in that. We would have been in the Pacific Northwest right now, if it wasn’t for this court date.”

In Laurel, the Motorhome Diaries has set up shop at Ward’s thanks to its free Wi-Fi Internet connection and Wal-Mart, which keeps its parking lot open for truck drivers and those in RVs for overnight stays.

On Saturday, the trio rushed to Hattiesburg to talk with Chip Irby, a former resident of Laurel, who wanted to share his story of supposed injustice by the Jones County Sheriff’s Department.

The trio has already been interviewed by WREG-TV, the CBS affiliate in Memphis, as well as free newspaper, the Memphis Flyer.

They will be hosting a meet-up at 7 p.m. Wednesday at La Fiesta Brava, prior to their court date Thursday. The hearing has been scheduled for 1 p.m. in Laurel Justice Court.