Death, evidence issues, a 'criminal enterprise': How an entire police department was put on leave
An entire police force in Alabama was put on administrative leave this week after a grand jury indicted its chief and about half its officers and recommended the small department be abolished amid a "rampant culture of corruption."
All employees at the Hanceville Police Department were placed on leave as of 5 p.m. on Thursday and local law enforcement duties have temporarily been taken over by the Cullman County Sheriff's Office, Hanceville Mayor Jim Sawyer said in a statement.
Earlier this week, the county's district attorney announced that Police Chief Jason Marlin, four of his officers and one of their wives was indicted on corruption, tampering and drug charges. A former dispatch supervisor, 49-year-old Christopher Michael Willingham, was found dead at the department last summer, with a fatal combination of illicit drugs in his system.
The death was the direct result of the police officers' "negligence, lack of procedure, general incompetence and disregard for human life," Cullman County District Attorney Champ Crocker said.
Grand jury calls for abolition of department
The grand jury tasked with reviewing the evidence unanimously recommended the whole department be abolished and law enforcement duties transferred to another agency. It also found a "rampant culture of corruption in the Hanceville Police Department, which has recently operated as more of a criminal enterprise than a law enforcement agency," according to Crocker.
The department's evidence room was unsecured, and surveillance footage showed unauthorized people accessing it through a hole in a wall and using a broomstick to open the door from the inside, Crocker said. Evidence stored in the evidence room was unusable in court, which was a failure to crime victims and the public, the grand jury found.
"Criminal evidence must be secured in order to have that evidence for prosecution and to ensure due process," Crocker said. "This evidence room was anything but secure."
These are the charges leveled in the indictment, Crocker said. All are felonies except tampering with physical evidence, which is a Class A misdemeanor.
- Chief Marlin: Two counts of failure to report an ethics crime and one count of tampering with physical evidence.
- Cody Allen Kelso: Two counts of computer tampering, and one count each of tampering with physical evidence, conspiracy to commit a controlled substance crime, and use of official office for personal gain. Kelso's wife, Donna Reid Kelso, was also charged with two counts of unlawful distribution of a controlled substance and two counts of conspiracy to unlawfully distribute a controlled substance, according to Crocker.
- Jason Scott Wilbanks: Two counts each of computer tampering, solicitation to commit a controlled substance, and use of official office for personal gain. He also faces once count of tampering with physical evidence.
- William Andrew Shelnutt: One count of tampering with physical evidence.
- Eric Michael Kelso: Four counts of unlawful distribution of a controlled substance and two counts of conspiracy to unlawfully distribute a controlled substance.
Hanceville is a city of about 3,200 residents 43 miles north of Birmingham. Its police force included just nine officers, according to data from the International Association of Chiefs of Police.