FORMER TOWN MARSHAL SENTENCED ON DRUG CHARGES

FRANKFORT, Ind. -- A former Clinton County town marshal who admitted
allowing a person to take marijuana from a police station's evidence
locker has been sentenced to 60 days in jail.

Kevin Smith, 46, pleaded guilty last month to charges of dealing and
possessing marijuana. A judge gave him a year sentence, with all but
two months to be spent on probation. An additional charge of
obstruction of justice was dismissed.

Smith resigned as marshal of Colfax, a town of some 800 people about
20 miles southeast of Lafayette, in 2004 about the time he was first charged.

Smith's status as a police officer led to more jail time than others
would likely receive, Clinton County Prosecutor Louis Evans said.

"That's probably double what another person would be ordered to
serve," Evans said.

Smith admitted in court to allowing less than 30 grams of marijuana
to be taken from the evidence locker in October 2002. He said he had
been drinking alcohol at the time.

Smith was charged with possessing marijuana because he failed to
label recovered marijuana as evidence. Dead marijuana plants and an
envelope containing the drug were found in the marshal's office in August 2004.