DEPUTY, JAIL OFFICIAL FACE DRUG CHARGES

Pair accused of trafficking with prisoners

The administrator of the Washington County Jail and a sheriff's deputy have
been charged with dealing in prescription medicines that reportedly were
stolen from inmates at the jail.

Jail administrator Joel Jackson faces 10 felony charges and four misdemeanor
counts of official misconduct in connection with the alleged drug
activities.

The deputy, Timothy Martin, faces five felony charges and one count of
official misconduct.

Jackson and Martin were arrested at the jail Tuesday night after being
questioned by Indiana State Police as part of a two-month investigation,
according to Washington County Prosecutor Cynthia Winkler.

"It's always a sad day when law enforcers (are accused of becoming) law
breakers," Winkler said. "I'm truly sorry for their families."

She said she doesn't know what the two men were allegedly doing with the
drugs.

"I do know that they obtained them, and I know that they were dealt," she
said. "But I don't know if the motive was money. I do not know if the motive
was addiction."

The two have been charged only with dealing with one another and trafficking
with inmates. Winkler said that means "they were taking the inmates' drugs
and/or giving drugs to the inmates in exchange for something else."

Sheriff Roger Lyles said Martin, 27, resigned yesterday, ending a three-year
stint as a deputy. Lyles said Jackson, 46, has been suspended without pay
pending a disciplinary hearing next Monday.

Asked how the investigation began, Lyles said only that "we received
information that something was occurring regarding the inmates' pills that
are prescribed by the doctors."

Jackson, as jail administrator, was in charge of operations at the facility
and supervised its eight employees, Lyles said. He was promoted to the
position about eight months ago, after spending more than three years as a
transport officer responsible for getting inmates from one place to another.

His position gave him access to all inmate medications, according to a press
release from the state police.

The investigation was conducted by the Washington County Drug Enforcement
Team, consisting of officers from the state police, the Salem Police
Department and the sheriff's department.

Winkler said the team performed "the difficult task of investigating their
own. They did a very professional job."

An affidavit, filed by state police Detective Sean Clemons in the case
against Martin, details multiple occasions on which the two men allegedly
gave the drugs to each other. It does not contain any other specifics about
how the drugs were distributed.

Both men made initial appearances yesterday in Washington Superior Court,
where Judge Frank Newkirk Jr. entered automatic pleas of not guilty. Martin
and Jackson were both released on bond.

The felony charges against Martin include two counts each of possession of a
controlled substance and dealing in a Schedule III controlled substance,
along with one count of possession of a legend drug.

The felony charges against Jackson are three counts of possession of a
controlled substance; two counts each of theft and trafficking with an
inmate; and one count each of unlawful sale of a legend drug, possession or
use of a legend drug or precursor, and dealing in a schedule IV controlled
substance.