Gary officer arrested on drug charge to face disciplinary action
by Lori Caldwell lcaldwell@post-trib.com | 648-3258 November 1, 2012 9:20PM
Marla Guye, Gary Police officer. | Provided Photo~Sun-Times Media
Updated: December 3, 2012 6:49AM
GARY — In addition to the criminal charges filed against Patrolman Marla Guye in Oklahoma, she will soon face disciplinary action at the police department.
“We’re not going to wait for the conclusion of the criminal matter,” Chief Wade Ingram told the Gary Police Civil Service Commission at its regular monthly meeting Thursday night.
Ingram said he will work with city attorney Schnell McClendon to prepare a complaint against Guye, arrested Oct. 23 and charged with trafficking in marijuana.
Guye and her boyfriend were stopped by Oklahoma Highway Patrol near Chandler, where the officer found 48 pounds of marijuana in a suitcase with the couple’s clothes.
She is scheduled to appear in Lincoln County District Court on Monday.
Other officers who have criminal charges pending are, like Guye, assigned to administrative duties while the case proceeds.
But Ingram said he didn’t want to wait, adding he believes Guye’s “association with another felon” would be grounds for punishment.
Guye’s boyfriend, Terrance Gee, was sentenced to eight years in Porter County for robbery.
The chief said he plans to reinstate random drug tests at the department, a practice established in the late 1990s and abandoned several years ago.
An Indiana University Northwest professor and U.S. Attorney David Capp have agreed to assist the chief in preparing ethics classes for Gary officers.
“I’m concerned about police officers’ activities off duty,” he said, noting three officers hired together in 2009 have all had drug-related incidents. Laron Leslie was fired for testing positive for marijuana when he crashed his take-home squad car and David Finley resigned after he was charged in federal court with dealing cocaine and marijuana.
The board also learned that no criminal charges will be filed against Cpl. Jeff Tatum, who shot his wife in the leg during a domestic dispute at his home. He said she stabbed him first.
