Pubdate: Fri, 07 Apr 2006
Source: News-Sentinel, The (Fort  Wayne, IN)
Copyright: 2006 The News-Sentinel
Contact:  http://www.fortwayne.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1077
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)

PROSECUTORS CHARGED A FIRED TOWN POLICE OFFICER WITH DRUG DEALING.

Robert M. Easterday Jr., 32, of Bloomington, faces seven drug-related 
charges including dealing in crack cocaine and attempting to sell 
psilocybin mushrooms between September and January, prosecutors said.

Six members of a grand jury heard testimony in the case before 
returning the indictments Wednesday. Easterday was being held Friday 
in the Brown County Jail on $20,000 bond.

"No one is above the law, and it's really disturbing when a police 
officer is accused of breaking the law," Brown County Prosecutor Jim 
Oliver said.

Nashville Town Marshall Jack Dorsett suspended Easterday from the 
police force in February. Easterday had reported his work-issued 
handgun missing from his former Nashville home. The Town Council in 
Nashville, 15 miles east of Bloomington, later fired the seven-year 
veteran for dereliction of duty.

A day after the gun was reported missing, Easterday told his boss he 
had recovered it from Robert J. Saunders, a 25-year-old acquaintance 
and Easterday's one-time neighbor. Saunders said he had found the 
gun, which had its serial number filed off.

Saunders was charged with unlawful possession of a handgun by a 
serious violent felon, possession of an altered handgun and receiving 
stolen property.

The indictment said Easterday asked Saunders if he knew anyone 
interested in buying the mushrooms.
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