Gary cop free on bond in Oklahoma pot case
by Lori Caldwell lcaldwell@post-trib.com|648-3258 October 25, 2012 4:38PM
Marla Guye, Gary Police officer. | Provided Photo~Sun-Times Media
Updated: November 27, 2012 10:57AM
GARY — Terrance Gee was “shaking uncontrollably” and Gary Patrolman Marla Guye avoided eye contact with the Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper who stopped them Tuesday morning.
Gee fumbled for his wallet and breathed heavily, leading the trooper to ask permission to search the rental car after he stopped it on the Turner Turnpike in central Oklahoma.
Both were arrested after the officer found 48 pounds of marijuana in the lone suitcase, a probable cause affidavit filed in Lincoln County criminal court states.
Both Guye, 29, and Gee, 25, of Michigan City, were charged with trafficking in illegal drugs. Guye faces penalties of four years to life in prison and fines of $25,000 to $100,000.
Gee, who was sentenced in Porter County to eight years in prison for a 2004 armed robbery, will face tougher penalties, Lincoln County assistant district attorney Pamela Hammers said.
The couple bonded out after posting $7,500 bond each. Their bond had been increased to $75,000 after the arresting officer amended his affidavit to include the amount of marijuana seized, but Guye and Gee were released before the change was processed.
They must appear in Lincoln County District Court on Monday to submit not guilty pleas and receive copies of their charges, Hammer said
The trooper noticed the couple’s rented white Ford Escape when it stopped near Chandler, at a toll booth halfway between Tulsa and Oklahoma City.
The driver changed lanes twice without signalling, the affidavit states.
After leaving the toll booth, the trooper signalled for the Escape to pull over, but Gee stopped in the road, instead of the shoulder, court records state.
Gee had an Arizona identification card, but said he had been living in Indiana with Guye, describing them to police as “a couple.”
Gee was “extremely nervous” and “shaking uncontrollably” as he spoke to the trooper, saying he and Guye had flown to Phoenix for a one-day trip and were driving back to Indiana.
Hammer said she’s heard those travel plans before. “It’s typical of our trafficking cases,” she said.
Guye added that they planned to “play at casinos along the way,” the affidavit states.
Guye, hired on the police force three years ago, was scheduled to work Tuesday as a Community Oriented Policing Services officer, assigned to the Miller area.
After the trooper obtained permission from both Gee and Guye to search the car, he looked in the suitcase and found “some clothes” and two compressed packages of marijuana wrapped in plastic.
