A Statesboro police officer responding to a domestic dispute Friday found more than people fighting. After obtaining a search warrant, Advanced Patrol Office Jared Shababy found evidence that helped the Statesboro-Bulloch County Crime Suppression Team solve an investigation into narcotic sales and gambling.
Friday, Shababy responded to a disturbance reported at Park Place Apartments, a location the Crime Suppression Team had under surveillance amid a narcotics sales investigation, said CST Capt. Jason Kearney.
CST agents had been investigating reports of a gambling operation in the area as well, he said. "We have been looking into it for some time."
Shababy, who is a former CST officer and has returned to service full time with the Statesboro Police Department, smelled the odor of marijuana when he responded to the domestic dispute. Suspecting there were drugs in the apartment, Shababy "wrote a search warrant and contacted us," Kearney said.
CST officers discovered evidence of a small gambling operation, including a poker table, as well as a quantity of marijuana and a stolen firearm, Kearney said.
Officers arrested five at the scene: Cynthia Alexandra Jones, 29, of Sunny Hagin Road in Portal; Joshua Lataures Johnson, 38, of Benji Court in Sylvania; and Dallas Orlando Shubert, 26, of Bermuda Run Apartments, all charged with marijuana possession; and Dare Alabi-Isama, 35, of Old Carriage Trail, charged with marijuana possession and gambling.
Renaldo Vernard Jackson, 30, of Park Place Apartments, was arrested on charges of marijuana possession; felony theft by receiving stolen property; manufacture, distribution, sale or purchase of marijuana; possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime; gambling; and keeping a gambling place, according to jail records.
Kearney said Shababy's cooperation, although he is no longer with the CST, displays a partnership between agencies that makes the CST successful.
The Statesboro-Bulloch County Crime Suppression Team consists of officers from the Statesboro Police Department, Georgia Southern University Police Department and the Bulloch County Sheriff's Office.
All five suspects were taken to the Bulloch County Jail to await bond and other court hearings.
Holli Deal Saxon may be reached at (912) 489-9414.