Pubdate: Sat, 06 Dec 2003 Source: News & Observer (NC) Copyright: 2003 The News and Observer Publishing Company Contact: http://www.news-observer.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/304 Author: Samiha Khanna Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption - United States) DRUG STING PUTS JAILER BEHIND BARS Johnston County's sheriff arrested one of his own jailers Friday on charges that the jailer ran a drug trade out of his house in Smithfield and employed his 16-year-old daughter to sell marijuana. Jerry Lynn Pierce, 41, was arrested about 3 p.m. at his home on Brogden Road. Sheriff Steve Bizzell and narcotics officers seized 500 grams of marijuana, $300 cash, scales and other drug paraphernalia there, according to a news release. The marijuana had a street value of about $3,000, the release said. Bizzell, who arrested Pierce and fired him on the spot, said investigators acted on tips from accused drug offenders. Pierce had been a detention officer for the Johnston County jail since November 2001. He was charged with felony possession with intent to sell and deliver marijuana, conspiracy to sell and deliver marijuana, maintaining a dwelling for the storage and sale of a controlled substance and employing a minor for the sale of a controlled substance. "I advised him how disappointed I was in him and how embarrassed I was employing a person in the jail where we house people like him," Bizzell said in an interview. When officers entered the single-wide mobile home, they found Pierce's daughter, Kristen, bagging marijuana in plain view, Bizzell said. Kristen, a student at Princeton School, was charged with felony possession with intent to sell and deliver marijuana and conspiracy to sell and deliver marijuana, Bizzell said. She is being held at a county jail outside Johnston in lieu of $50,250 bail. "I could tell they were very surprised to see us," Bizzell said. "They didn't have much to say." Pierce, who is being held in lieu of $100,500 bail at a county jail outside Johnston, was not available for comment. Bizzell said Pierce had not hired an attorney as of late Friday. The sheriff said he suspected Pierce's drug activity 90 days ago when he received phone tips from people who have been arrested on past drug charges. The sheriff's office began an internal investigation, he said. A jail administrator confronted Pierce on the allegations several weeks ago, and he denied them, Bizzell said. But the sheriff said he has driven past Pierce's home several times in recent weeks and witnessed drug activity since the warning. "He ceased operation for several weeks, and when the heat was turned down, he went back into the business," Bizzell said. Bizzell said he is still investigating whether Pierce sold drugs to inmates at the county jail in Smithfield. But he said the tips that led to Pierce came from outside the jail and not from other jail employees. He doesn't suspect any other jailers of criminal drug activity, he said. Pierce had passed a criminal background check and a drug test in the hiring process, Bizzell said. He was a punctual employee, satisfied the requirements of the job and did not have previous disciplinary problems, Bizzell said. The sheriff said he does not suspect that Pierce is a drug user, and he said all employees of the county jail are subject to random drug testing. But Bizzell said that since he was elected to office in 1998, he has called for random testing once. Officers who searched Pierce's home also recovered information on drug transactions that could lead to other arrests, he said. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom