Pubdate: Tue, 15 Feb 2000
Source: The Joplin Globe (MO)
Copyright: 2000 The Joplin Globe
Contact:   [417] 623-8450
Address: 117 E. Fourth St., Joplin, MO 64801
Website: http://www.joplinglobe.com/
Author: John Hacker

EX-POLICE OFFICER FACES DRUG CHARGES

GALENA, Kan. -- A former police officer has been charged after a Cherokee 
County sheriff's deputy on a routine traffic stop allegedly found what 
appeared to be drugs and paraphernalia on his person and in his truck.

Olen T. Thronebury, 27, of Commerce, Okla., was charged with possession of 
an illegal drug with intent to distribute, possession of marijuana, 
possession of drug paraphernalia, criminal possession of a firearm and 
traffic violations.

Undersheriff George Kelly said Thronebury made his first appearance Monday 
in Cherokee County District Court, and bond was set at $50,000.

Commerce Police Chief Bob Baine said Thronebury had been both a reserve and 
a full-time police officer in Commerce until 1997, when he left to join the 
Galena Police Department.

"It's a shock to me to hear he was arrested," Baine said. "All our officers 
are drug-tested, and he passed his when he worked here, so he wasn't into 
that stuff when he worked in Commerce."

Baine said Thronebury was a jailer at the Ottawa County Jail in Miami, 
Okla., before he worked in Commerce.

Sloan Rowland, former Galena police chief, said Thronebury joined the 
Galena Police Department in 1997 but only stayed on for a couple of months. 
Rowland said Thronebury was a patrol officer.

"There were several reasons he was terminated, but the main one was he 
didn't meet the residence requirement," Rowland said. "I can't go into the 
others because they were a personnel matter." Rowland said the Galena 
Police Department requires that officers live in the city limits.

A Cherokee County Sheriff's Department statement said Thronebury was 
stopped Sunday at 21st Street and Ricker Road on the south city limits of 
Galena.

It said officers determined Thronebury did not have proof of insurance on 
the 1993 GMC pickup he was driving, so he was asked to step out of the vehicle.

Officers said they found a quantity of what appeared to be methamphetamine 
on Thronebury, and that a search of the vehicle turned up drug 
paraphernalia, illegal drugs and two weapons. 
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