Gary cop charged with marijuana trafficking in Oklahoma
by Lori Caldwell lcaldwell@post-trib.com | 648-3258 October 23, 2012 5:46PM
Marla Guye, Gary Police officer. | Provided Photo~Sun-Times Media
Maps
Updated: November 25, 2012 11:47AM
GARY — A traffic stop in central Oklahoma led to the arrest of a three-year member of the Gary Police Department, who faces charges of trafficking marijuana.
Lincoln County Sheriff Charlie Dougherty said Marla Guye, 29, and her passenger, Terrence Gee, 25, of Michigan City, were arrested on the Turner Turnpike near Chandler, Okla., which is about halfway between Tulsa and Oklahoma City.
The Highway Patrol Interdiction Unit searched Guye’s car and found enough marijuana to warrant a felony charge of trafficking.
A judge in Lincoln County set her bail at $7,500. She is expected to appear in District Court on Wednesday.
Guye, hired in November 2009 at the height of former Mayor Rudy Clay’s push to hire Gary residents for the Police Department, failed to report to work Tuesday.
She most recently has been assigned to the Community Oriented Policing Services detail in the Miller neighborhood.
Representatives from the U.S. Department of Justice interviewed Guye at the Lincoln County Jail, Dougherty said.
Gary Police Chief Wade Ingram said he had heard of the arrest but received no official notification.
“I am a little saddened and disappointed because she is a good officer,” Ingram said.
After he receives a copy of the charging affidavit, Ingram said he would make a decision about her standing.
Indiana state law requires a hearing for any disciplinary action that exceeds five days without pay against a sworn police officer. Most of the time, officers facing criminal charges are assigned to administrative duties.
Guye and former patrolmen Laron Leslie and David O. Finley were all hired after Clay convinced the City Council to amend the hiring process. The change allowed the administration to choose anyone on the hiring list, rather than by results of a battery of tests.
Leslie was charged with intimidation in a dispute with a Gary firefighter. That case is pending. He was fired by the Gary Police Civil Service for crashing his take-home squad car while testing positive for marijuana.
Finley was charged in U.S. District Court with dealing cocaine. His case is also pending. He resigned shortly after his arrest.
