Former Officer Accused of Alerting Drug Dealer
Posted/updated on: September 4, 2014 at 10:41 am
MARSHALL — A former Marshall Police Department narcotics officer is accused of alerting a drug dealer that he was being investigated. According to KETK and the Longview News-Journal, the federal charges against William “Brody” West were filed August 5 in the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Texas in Marshall. He is charged with misprision of a felony, which accuses him of withholding information on a crime or deliberately concealing knowledge of a felony.
Court documents allege that in March 2012, West sent a text to a person who was selling cocaine, telling the person to “shut it down” after West found out that law enforcement officers were investigating the drug dealer. The charge carries a penalty of a fine of not more than $250,000, imprisonment for not more than three years, or both; or a term of supervised release of not more than one year. A special assessment of $100 also might be imposed.
Marshall human resources records show West worked for the police department as an officer on two occasions. He began working on Sept. 27, 2003, and resigned Nov. 10, 2005, to accept other employment. West then worked for the police department again from Feb. 11, 2006, until his resignation Jan. 30. During his last tenure with the Marshall Police Department, he was promoted to sergeant.
