Virginia Police Chief Fired Following Drug Charge

June 20, 2013
Federal authorities have arrested Marion Police Chief Michael Dean Roberts on a drug charge.

Federal authorities have arrested the police chief of Marion on a drug charge.

Michael Dean Roberts, who also goes by Fireball, is charged with distribution of a controlled substance, according to a filing earlier today in U.S. District Court in Abingdon. His arrest was announced by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Virginia.

The town of Marion announced tonight that Roberts had been fired, effective immediately.

In an affidavit for an arrest warrant, agent Jonathan Tabor of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives described evidence that Roberts provided the prescription painkiller Lortab for $14 a pill to a "confidential cooperating defendant."

On June 8, Roberts, 54, of Saltville went to the cooperating defendant's home in Russell County and stepped into the kitchen, court papers said. As authorities monitored the scene with audio and video, the chief put a hand in his pocket and then placed two pills on the counter for the cooperating defendant and one on a plate pulled from a cabinet, court papers said.

Roberts then crushed the pill on the plate with a spoon, divided the material into two lines with a card from his wallet and snorted the lines, court papers said. He collected the residue with his hand, licked his hand, and washed the plate and spoon in the kitchen sink, court papers said.

After the pair left, investigators found two white pills in the home's medicine cabinet, which was where the cooperating defendant had been asked to put any drugs he got from Roberts, court papers said. The cooperating defendant later gave authorities an additional half a pill he said he received from Roberts after leaving the home and told of buying pills from Roberts twice previously, always paying $14 a pill, court papers said.

Investigators said the pills were Lortab-branded hydrocodone, a schedule III controlled substance.

Copyright 2013 - The Roanoke Times, Va.

McClatchy-Tribune News Service

Sponsored Recommendations

Build Your Real-Time Crime Center

March 19, 2024
A checklist for success

Whitepaper: A New Paradigm in Digital Investigations

July 28, 2023
Modernize your agency’s approach to get ahead of the digital evidence challenge

A New Paradigm in Digital Investigations

June 6, 2023
Modernize your agency’s approach to get ahead of the digital evidence challenge.

Listen to Real-Time Emergency 911 Calls in the Field

Feb. 8, 2023
Discover advanced technology that allows officers in the field to listen to emergency calls from their vehicles in real time and immediately identify the precise location of the...

Voice your opinion!

To join the conversation, and become an exclusive member of Officer, create an account today!