Gallatin sheriff formally indicted on drug, gun charges

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[A federal grand jury indicted the Gallatin County sheriff on drug and gun charges.

Raymond M. Martin, 46, Junction, was formally charged with three counts of distribution of marijuana and two counts of carrying a firearm during a drug-trafficking crime. He was charged with a criminal complaint by the U.S. Attorney's office on May 17.

He was arrested May 18 at his office.

Conviction on each of the marijuana-related counts carries a possible five-year sentence and $250,00 fine. The firearm charges are much more serious. The first count carries a minimum penalty of five years in a federal penitentiary, which must be served consecutive to the drug charges, and a $250,000 fine. The second firearm charge carries a minimum penalty of 25 years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine.

Martin is being held without bond after a preliminary and detention hearing held May 20. In entering the detention order, Judge Philip M. Frazier said prosecutors and investigators have done a very thorough job and presented a strong preliminary case.

"What is presented here is a monumental breach of trust," Frazier said.

During the preliminary hearing, prosecutors and a witness painted a picture of Martin as more than willing to use his position as sheriff to further his drug-trafficking business. He wore his uniform and drove his squad vehicle to meetings with a confidential source, took marijuana from an evidence room for resale and threatened the confidential source with death if he quit the drug trade, according to testimony from Glenn Rountree, a Southern Illinois Drug Task Force and Drug Enforcement Administration agent.

Martin and the confidential source met in a remote area of Gallatin County to exchange money, marijuana and drug-trafficking information several times, according to Rountree's testimony.

A search warrant executed at Martin's 940 Sawmill Road residence after his arrest revealed $107,000 in a basement safe; $1,700 cash elsewhere; and a number of firearms, including a Savage Arms rifle reported stolen by the Gallatin County Sheriff's Department in 2000. His residence is a 2001 or 2002 house without liens or a mortgage, but assessed at $350,000, according to testimony by Rountree. Testimony at the preliminary hearing suggested Martin's income alone wasn't enough to pay for a $350,000 house with cash or a short-term loan.