A Jefferson County man standing wrapped only in a towel in his front yard was arrested this morning, but not because he was near naked.

Fearing someone was in his house, the man asked Jefferson County sheriff's deputies to search the home. When they did, they found a pound of marijuana.

"Deputies found no signs of an intruder in the house, and little sign of intelligence outside the house," said Chief Deputy Randy Christian.

A passerby called deputies about 4:15 a.m. to report a man was standing naked in the road in the 2200 block of Old Springville Road.

They arrived to find Richard Baker, 48, cloaked in a towel. He told authorities someone was in his house trying to rob him and asked they go inside and look for the bad guy.

When deputies entered the home, Christian said, they immediately smelled marijuana and spotted a plastic grocery bag containing six sandwich bags, each filled with the pot.

The total weight was about one pound with a value of between $800 to $1,000.

Baker was arrested for first-degree possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.

He is in the county jail with bond set at $21,000.

"The moral of the story," Christian said, "is if you have illegal drugs in the house, it's probably not a good idea to call attention to yourself by standing in the road naked."