The Marion County Sheriff’s officer applied for, and received, a grant to assist in the enforcement of drugged driving laws. MARMET assisted the Sheriff’s Office in providing suspected drug locations from information provided through the TIPS Line (740-387-TIPS).This enabled Marion law enforcement to focus on this dangerous activity and the results were eye-catching.
This cooperation resulted in several traffic stops and 2 search warrants and yielded the following results during this 16-hour effort:
1 Operating a Vehicle while under the Influence (Drugs) arrest
68.8 grams of Heroin/Fentanyl
6.8 grams of Crack
6.8 grams of Cocaine
45.5 grams of Methamphetamine
3,298.7 grams of Marijuana
17 Dosage Units of Tramadol
25 Dosage Units of Xanax
18 Unknown Pills
15 Firearms
$737 in Cash
8 Arrests
Marion County Sheriff Matt Bayles and his Chief Deputy Bill Collins were both out working alongside their deputies during this operation.Sheriff Bayles stated, “I am pleased with the outcome of these seizures and my message continues, drugs will not be tolerated in Marion County”. Sheriff Bayles continued by saying “I believe that lives were saved, not only by the drugs taken off the streets, but also by the guns seized from persons who illegally possessed them”.
Chief Jay McDonald stated, “The cooperation and teamwork shown by the Police Department and the Sheriff’s Office, as well as the community, is the key to fighting illegal drugs in our community.McDonald thanked the community members who provided tips through the TIPS Line and the new MARMET website where tips can be submitted at https://mariontips.org.Chief McDonald said “We cannot do this job without the help of the community and all of us are so grateful that Marion citizens shares our priority of combatting illegal drugs in our community.”
We have shared a few photos of the various seizures during this. These cases will be forwarded to Marion County Prosecutor Ray Grogan for formal charges.
The MARMET Drug Task Force is comprised of the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office and the Marion Police Department.
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