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Federal authorities have arrested three Whitley County men, all with connections to the prosecution of former Williamsburg Police Officer Bradley Nighbert.
Williamsburg tow truck operator Jerry Bunch, former Whitley Sheriff’s Department jail transport officer Gregory Keith Smith and Clarence King have been arrested by federal authorities for numerous drug trafficking charges, according to court documents and sources close to the News Journal.
Bunch is facing 10 counts of possession and distribution of cocaine, Oxycontin and Hydrocodone. He was lodged in the Laurel County Detention Center Wednesday and is currently being held on no bond.
Smith was also arrested Wednesday and was indicted by a federal grand jury in late October on four counts of distributing Oxycodone pills. He was scheduled for an arraignment hearing in U.S. District Court in London Friday afternoon.
King was indicted for conspiracy to distribute oxycodone, distributing oxycodone, possession of oxycodone and distribution of hydrocodone. He was scheduled for an arraignment hearing in U.S. District Court Friday morning.
The grand jury accused King of committing all offenses between Feb. 2008 and June 2010. All of Smith’s charges took place during May and June of 2009.
Authorities are also seeking the forefeiture of a 2006 Ford pickup truck from Smith and a tract of land in Whitley County from King.
All three men appeared for arraignment hearings Friday in U.S. District Court in London before Magistrate Judge Hanley Ingram. A trial day for all three was set for Jan. 10, 2011.
Bunch and King are scheduled to appear next Tuesday for detention hearings. A detention hearing for Smith is scheduled for next Thursday.
Bunch was one of 27 witnesses that testified to a special Whitley County Grand Jury, empanelled in June, to investigate wrongdoing by Hodge. The jury returned a 21-count indictment Monday accusing Hodge of abuse of public trust and tampering with physical evidence.
A Smith worked as a prisoner transport officer for the Whitley County Sheriff’s Department. Sources tell the News Journal he resigned from duty about six weeks ago.
Nighbert pleaded guilty in July for conspiring to burglarize a Williamsburg pharmacy in early 2006 and for being part of an elaborate drug trafficking ring, dealing mostly in distribution of Oxycodone pills. Six others were indicted with him and have entered guilty please for various charges. Nighbert has always been a central figure in the case. He is scheduled to be formally sentenced on the charges Dec. 16. He could receive up to 30 years in jail and over $1 million in fines.
Nighbert resigned from the Williamsburg Police Department in Sept. 2006 following an investigation into a on-duty accident in which he hit another motorist head-on, at high speed. He was found to have cocaine and Oxycodone in his system at the time of the crash. He received a probated sentence for the incident pursuant to a plea agreement.
The city of Williamsburg settled a civil lawsuit related to the accident.
Federal prosecutors noted that the arrests of Bunch, Smith and King are directly related to Nighbert’s case.
