Oct. 20--Pennington Gap's police chief remained in jail Friday on drug-related charges after his request for bond was denied in U.S. District Court in Abingdon.
William Bryan Young, who has served as the town's chief for about a year, is charged with possession of a firearm by an unlawful user of controlled substances, possession of a firearm during and furtherance of a drug trafficking offense, and distributing and possessing with the intent to distribute controlled substances, according to a federal criminal complaint.
Young was arrested Thursday. Federal agents and local officers also searched his home on Middle Wallens Road in the Stickleyville area of Lee County.
The investigation leading to Young's arrest took about two years and was conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms and the U.S. Attorney's Office, as well the Lee County Sheriff's Office, according to a written statement from Lee County Sheriff Gary Parsons.
On Thursday, an agent made a controlled buy of 20 Percocet pills from Young at his home, the federal complaint said. At the time, Young was wearing his Police Department uniform and had his weapon holstered. The agent paid in marked currency, some of which was later found in Young's police cruiser, the complaint states.
During the search of Young's home, federal court documents show, agents found Percocet pills and firearms. They also found empty evidence bags from the Pennington Gap Police Department in Young's personal vehicle, which appeared to have previously held controlled substances, according to the documents.
Young also is accused of having orchestrated the September burglary of an area pharmacy to get pills, which were split between him and the three men who committed the burglary.
During an interview with bureau agents Thursday, according to court documents, Young "admitted to being an illegal user of controlled substances for a number of years" and also told agents "he did not use Percocet, but traded them for his preferred drug, Roxicet."
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