Sheriff’s Office happen upon a major drug bust
On August 8, the Marshall County Sheriff’s Office made a substantial finding in a Kingston neighborhood while answering a disturbance call. Deputies David Barnes, Steve Beebe, and Anna Timms all responded to a call from a distressed neighbor off Kochina Boulevard.
According to the police report, the reporting party said Gary Jackson was screaming, yelling and shooting his gun. During her call, she stated “all the noise he was making and the gun being shot is what woke her up and she is scared to death that he is going to shoot her.”
Barnes noted in his report that when he arrived on scene, he immediately noticed what appeared to be the tops of several large marijuana plants sprouting up behind a privacy fence. In his report, Barnes stated that “Deputy Timms asked me if that was marijuana we were looking at, and I told her yes, and she said that is what is smells like.”
The officers knocked on Jackson’s door, however, there was no reply. Barnes said that Jackson’s usual M.O. is to not answer when cops knock. Barnes then went around to the backyard and found Jackson attempting to leave the property after exiting a shed. Barnes confronted him, confirmed it was Jackson, and noticed a pistol in his waistline covered up by his shirt tail.
Barnes then secured the weapon, and asked Jackson why he had a firearm. Jackson said he had it for his protection. “He stated that it was a gun and he had been shooting outside because unknown people were shooting sling shots at him.” After inspecting the pistol, Barnes said it had a live round in it.
The officer then inquired if the suspect had a grow license or a medical card, giving him the legal ability to possess the plant. Unfortunately for Jackson, he had neither, and Barnes and Beebe arrested him.
Jackson told officers his reasons behind his illegal grow facility — to eventually become a legal one and pay off existing fines. “He kept telling us about his grow and that it was about ready for harvest and that it was going to generate enough money so he could pay his fines,” Barnes noted in the report. Jackson told Timms he was going to pay his fines and obtain a grow license.
Before Barnes found Jackson attempting to elude them, Timms spoke with the nervous neighbor and allayed her fears of being shot by the suspect. When Timms mentioned speaking with the suspect, the neighbor informed the officer that Jackson never answers the door for police. She also told Timms about something Jackson thought was a way to trick questioning officers — a makeshift door in the top floor of his residence. Apparently, the secret door was what Jackson had used when Barnes caught him exiting the shed.
Once officers were able to enter the residence, they patted down Jackson’s visitor, Amber Mangum, and found nothing on her. The officers then asked where the door that led to the marijuana was located. Jackson then pointed to a makeshift window giving access to a hidden area. It was a secret door to his fenced in back area with the marijuana plants.
The officers obtained permission to search the residence and came out with a bounty of illegal items. Over 100 marijuana plants, from seedling to full-grown, two rifles, a .22 caliber bolt action and a .22 caliber Marlin, a box full of drug paraphernalia, and containers from the Madill dispensary. The search also garnered a police issue radio.
Once the officers returned to the sheriff’s office, they ran the serial numbers belonging to the found firearms, the rifles were clear, but the .380 pistol was stolen out of Marshall County in August 2018.
Jackson was arrested and booked into the Marshall County Jail for Cultivation, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, Possession of a Firearm in the Commission of a Felony, and Possession of a Police Radio in the Commission of a Felony.