Small-Town Police Chief Charged With Drug Trafficking After Man Overdosed In His Home

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Police chief in Pike County, Mo., charged with drug trafficking after overdose death – St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Police are responsible for upholding the law in their community. However, this small-town police chief was charged with doing the very opposite.

Former Pike Town Police Chief William Jones has been chief of the Louisiana Police Department since December 2020 and was put on administrative leave with pay on Wednesday. The town is down to two full-time officers and one part-timer.

Alexis Thone, Jones’ girlfriend, found her brother dead and yelled for Jones and officer Forsythe to call for help. Her brother died of an overdose from illegal drugs. Jones told investigators he “had no idea” there were illegal drugs being used in the home.

First responders found Thone’s brother, Gabriel Thone, dead on the floor of a master bedroom upstairs. A second brother, 21, was in respiratory distress but was revived with Narcan, a medication that can reverse the effects of opioid overdoses.

Jones and Thone were arrested in a traffic stop on the southern edge of Louisiana. A police dog detected drugs in the car.

Rodney Dolbeare, a city councilman, said Jones went through the hiring process and the impressions were good. However, the mayor put Jones on paid leave before Wednesday’s arrest. Jones, if able to post bail, must be monitored by GPS and undergo random drug tests. He can’t have contact with Thone or her surviving brother.

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