A Dumas police officer was charged Thursday with selling marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamine as part of a drug-trafficking conspiracy that federal authorities say included two of his cousins.
James Ivory Edgerson, 37, also was accused of selling drugs while in uniform, meeting with an out-of-state drug supplier and making "several" drug deliveries to confidential informants working with federal and state investigators.
Edgerson's arrest and details of the federal investigation were announced by the office of Christopher Thyer, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas.
In addition to Edgerson, federal authorities arrested five men who are charged in the drug-trafficking conspiracy.
The other defendants include brothers Kendrick Lamar Edgerson, 43, and Rodney Lariel Edgerson, 36. They are James Edgerson's cousins and live in Little Rock.
Gregory Lamont Charles, 41, of Little Rock, Steven Sherrod Miles, 42, of Dumas, and Eli Haynes III, 40, of Arlington, Texas, also were arrested and charged as part of the drug-trafficking conspiracy.
Haynes is scheduled to appear today before a federal judge in Texas. Edgerson and the other four men appeared Thursday before U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Thomas Ray who ordered them jailed pending later detention hearings.
Federal and state investigators said they seized about 28 ounces of powder cocaine, 1 ounce of crack cocaine, 1 pound of marijuana, five guns and $222,000 in cash from the homes and cars of the men.
According to Thyer's office, James Edgerson was arrested Wednesday evening while riding in a vehicle that contained 3 ounces of powder cocaine and 1 ounce of crack cocaine. Authorities said they also found $16,000 cash, several firearms and an unregistered firearm suppressor at Edgerson's home.
In an interview, Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris Givens, spokesman for Thyer's office, said federal authorities do not believe Edgerson used a patrol car as part of the drug conspiracy, but one drug sale "was done while James Edgerson was in uniform."
Edgerson has been an officer at the Dumas department for about 14 years. On Thursday, a Dumas police dispatcher referred any questions about Edgerson to federal authorities.
According to Thyer's office, investigators documented the police officer making drug deliveries from May until this month. Federal agents also obtained a wiretap for Edgerson's phone and recorded him discussing drug sales.
Edgerson is accused of providing drugs to Miles and then splitting the profits of the illicit sales. Edgerson also is accused of traveling to Texas in August to purchase 9 ounces of methamphetamine from Haynes.
The police officer then returned to Arkansas and sold the drugs, federal authorities said.
In a written statement, Thyer called Edgerson's arrest "extremely disheartening."
"The citizens of the Eastern District of Arkansas deserve better and deserve to know that their law enforcement members will honor their vow to protect and serve," Thyer said. "When that vow -- and that trust -- is broken, my office will make sure those individuals are punished and answer for their crimes."
Thyer and David Resch, special agent in charge of the FBI's Little Rock office said Edgerson's arrest was the result of investigations by the FBI, Arkansas State Police, Jefferson County sheriff's office, Tri-County Drug Task Force and the FBI's ArkTrust Public Corruption Task Force, among others.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Julie Peters and Edward Walker are prosecuting the case.
Givens said the Dumas Police Department cooperated with investigators after Edgerson's arrest, but the department was not involved in the federal investigation.
Edgerson and the other five men were charged by criminal complaint. Federal prosecutors now have 30 days for a federal grand jury to return an indictment against the men. The drug-conspiracy charge in the criminal complaint carries a penalty of up to life in prison.
Metro on 09/11/2015