Two Muncie police officers fired over cocaine allegations

Douglas Walker, Muncie Star Press
·1 min read

MUNCIE, Ind. — The Muncie Police Merit Commission on Thursday fired two city police officers over their alleged dealings with cocaine.

Officers Lance Clay and Jonathan Powell had been accused of both obtaining and ingesting cocaine in January 2023.

According to court documents, Muncie Police Chief Nate Sloan filed a related disciplinary complaint with the merit commission in March 2023.

At Thursday's hearing, in a pair of 5-0 votes, the commission voted to immediately terminate the officers — who had not been on active duty since the allegations were raised.

The commission had earlier in the week conducted a closed hearing on the allegations.

More: Muncie, Daleville men arrested on drug-dealing charges

On Thursday, before the votes to fire the officers were taken, commission member Carisa Aguilar read aloud the panel's findings,

The commission found Clay and Powell had engaged in "conduct unbecoming an officer," and called their actions both "felonious" and "immoral."

The now-former officers did not address the panel during Thursday's hearing. They had pursued legal action — in a case in which most details of the allegations have been made unavailable to the public — in a bid to save their jobs.

Powell had joined the police department in 2016. Clay had been an officer since 2018.

No related criminal charges have been filed.

"The Muncie Police Department is charged with enforcing laws and combatting crime within the city of Muncie," Sloan said in a news release after the dismissals. "We address those that violate the laws, making civilized culture possible.

"While human and prone to making mistakes, we are not above those laws and hold ourselves to a higher standard. As such, there is zero tolerance for any kind of criminal activity within our ranks."

Douglas Walker is a news reporter at The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Commission fires Muncie police officers over cocaine allegations