A grand jury in Alabama is calling for a small police department to be abolished after recently indicting its chief and four other officers as part of a sweeping corruption investigation, saying that the department had operated “as more of a criminal enterprise than a law enforcement agency.”
The Hanceville Police Department, which serves a city of roughly 3,000 residents about 45 miles north of Birmingham, employed just eight officers as of last August, when the chief, Jason Marlin, was sworn in.
On Wednesday, the chief’s mug shot was projected onto a screen at a news conference announcing the arrest of the chief and four officers on felony and misdemeanor charges. The wife of one of those officers was also indicted.
Champ Crocker, the district attorney of Cullman County, said that corruption in the department had become so pervasive that it had compromised evidence in many cases and had created unsafe conditions at the local jail — and was even connected to the overdose last year of a 911 dispatcher at the department.
“With these indictments, these officers find themselves on the opposite end of the laws they were sworn to uphold,” Mr. Crocker said. “Wearing a badge is a privilege and an honor, and that most law enforcement officers take seriously. A badge is not a license to corrupt the administration of justice.”
During the half-hour news conference, the district attorney spoke in general terms about the nature of the misconduct the chief and the other officers are accused of. Court records offered some additional details about the accusations, which include the mishandling of evidence, use of performance-enhancing drugs and unauthorized access to a law enforcement database.
The specific charges, which were filed on Friday in Cullman County Circuit Court, included computer tampering, use of office for personal gain, unlawful distribution of a controlled substance, evidence tampering and failure to notify the state about ethics violations.
The grand jury did not charge the officers in connection with the death of Christopher Michael Willingham, 49, the 911 dispatcher whose body was found in his office last August, the district attorney said, but it blamed the Police Department for the circumstances.
Mr. Crocker said that the 18 jurors had concluded that Mr. Willingham’s death, ruled an accidental overdose from fentanyl and other drugs by state pathologists, was the “direct result” of the department’s “negligence, lack of procedure, general incompetence and disregard for human life.”
The district attorney repeatedly assailed the Police Department over the level of security in its evidence room, saying that officers had unfettered access through a gap in the wall and used a broomstick to jimmy a door. After the grand jury visited the Hanceville jail on Feb. 12, he said, it has “zero confidence” in the Police Department’s ability to maintain the facility or meet basic health and safety needs.
In a statement posted on social media on Wednesday, the Hanceville mayor, Jim Sawyer, promised that the city would fully cooperate with the authorities in their investigation of the Police Department. He did not address whether the city would follow the grand jury’s recommendation to disband the department.
“Those entrusted with serving and protecting our community must be individuals of integrity and honor,” Mr. Sawyer wrote. “While the vast majority of police officers and deputies are dedicated public servants, the misconduct of a few casts a shadow on the profession.”
Mr. Sawyer said that he had spoken to Mr. Crocker, the district attorney, and agreed that there should be an audit of the contents of the evidence room. It has been a little more than a year since Mr. Sawyer became mayor. The city’s former mayor resigned in December 2023 after pleading guilty to 15 misdemeanor counts of using his office for personal gain, The Cullman Tribune reported.
On Friday, Chief Marlin, 51, was charged with two counts of failure to report an ethics crime, which is a felony, and a misdemeanor charge of evidence tampering. A woman who answered the phone at the Police Department on Wednesday said that the chief would not be commenting.
The other officers who were indicted by the grand jury are Jason Scott Wilbanks, 37; Cody Alan Kelso, 33; William Andrew Shelnutt, 39; Eric Michael Kelso, 44; and his wife, Donna Reid Kelso, 63.
Cody Alan Kelso referred requests for comment to his lawyer, John C. Robbins, who said that details of the case against his client appeared to be thin.
“I have not seen any of the evidence which supports these charges,” Mr. Robbins said.
Mr. Shelnutt hung up the phone when asked for comment on Wednesday. So did Ms. Kelso when she was asked if she and her husband had obtained a lawyer. It was not clear whether the couple were related to Cody Alan Kelso.
Prosecutors accused Ms. Kelso of providing anabolic steroids to several of the officers who were charged. Her husband was indicted on similar drug charges.
Efforts to reach Mr. Wilbanks were not immediately successful on Wednesday, and it was not clear whether he had a lawyer.
Mr. Crocker, the district attorney, said that all five officers had been released on bond. The city did not specify the current status of the officers.
Alain Delaquérière contributed research.
