PROSECUTORS CHARGED A FIRED TOWN POLICE OFFICER WITH DRUG DEALING.

Robert M. Easterday Jr., 32, of Bloomington, faces seven drug-related
charges including dealing in crack cocaine and attempting to sell
psilocybin mushrooms between September and January, prosecutors said.

Six members of a grand jury heard testimony in the case before
returning the indictments Wednesday. Easterday was being held Friday
in the Brown County Jail on $20,000 bond.

"No one is above the law, and it's really disturbing when a police
officer is accused of breaking the law," Brown County Prosecutor Jim
Oliver said.

Nashville Town Marshall Jack Dorsett suspended Easterday from the
police force in February. Easterday had reported his work-issued
handgun missing from his former Nashville home. The Town Council in
Nashville, 15 miles east of Bloomington, later fired the seven-year
veteran for dereliction of duty.

A day after the gun was reported missing, Easterday told his boss he
had recovered it from Robert J. Saunders, a 25-year-old acquaintance
and Easterday's one-time neighbor. Saunders said he had found the
gun, which had its serial number filed off.

Saunders was charged with unlawful possession of a handgun by a
serious violent felon, possession of an altered handgun and receiving
stolen property.

The indictment said Easterday asked Saunders if he knew anyone
interested in buying the mushrooms.