Carroll County Sheriff, Ken Pingrey, reports that an ongoing investigation into regional drug activity led law enforcement officials to 40-year-old Branden Gerrick Smith of Jefferson.
Smith is banned from being in possession of a weapon for domestic abuse charges. The search warrant, which was served on March 12, was executed prior to an arrest made by the Greene County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday, March 16. Greene County had received reports of a domestic abuse situation and that Smith was making threatening phone calls and suicidal threats. The Sheriff’s Office and the Jefferson Police Department located Smith, who refused to cooperate with officers. A struggle ensued as they worked to detain him and a Greene County Deputy was forced to deploy his Taser to get him into custody. Smith is currently being held in Greene County on charges of Interference with Official Acts and felony warrants for domestic abuse assault with a $9,750 cash or surety bond. The suspected narcotics seized by Carroll County have been sent to the Department of Criminal Investigations’ laboratory to be analyzed. Pingrey said drug charges are pending those results.
Smith will be prosecuted on the Greene County charges and then remanded to Carroll County to face charges stemming from this incident.
