Federal lawsuit filed against Barbour County deputies

An Ariton couple is asking for $600,000 as part of a federal lawsuit which claims four law enforcement officers, including the chief deputy of the Barbour County Sheriff’s Office, improperly searched their home.

Montgomery attorney Anthony Bush filed the lawsuit on behalf of Angela and Marcus Brown against Ronnie Benefield, R.C. Covington, Eddie Ingram and Corey Mason.

Barbour County Sheriff Leroy Upshaw, who was not named in the lawsuit, said only Benefield currently works for his office. Benefield serves as the chief deputy for the department. Ingram formerly served as chief deputy for the Barbour County Sheriff’s Office, and now works in Georgia. Covington is a former deputy. Mason is a former reserve deputy.

The lawsuit included the Browns’ request for $600,000 in compensatory and punitive damages.

“The search warrant was executed at the incorrect address,” Bush said. “It’s just an improper search.”

According to the lawsuit, Mason obtained a search warrant from Barbour County Circuit Court Judge Burt Smithart on Dec. 5, 2008, saying that probable cause existed to arrest “possibly” Adrian Johnson and search his residence located at “possibly 127 Doster Spur Road, Ariton, in Barbour County.” The lawsuit said an “anytime” search warrant was issued by Smithart for an address at 127 Doster Spur Road. The lawsuit alleges the officers served the warrant at a different home located at 20 Doster Spur Road, which is the Brown’s home.

The lawsuit said the officers served the search warrant in a “dynamic entry” style which included “smashing open the door and swarming” the house.

Bush said the lawsuit also alleges the men improperly seized property that belonged to his clients, including a four-wheeler, a computer, some cash, a handgun and a pack of cigarettes.

Bush said the officers even forced one of his clients, Marcus Brown, to the floor at gunpoint during the improper search. Bush said a new big screen television was also broken during the search. He said as many as a dozen officers searched the home, but only four were named in the lawsuit.

“My clients strongly deny that there were any unlawful items in their residence,” Bush said.

The lawsuit alleges all three people, including Johnson, were handcuffed and taken to jail after the search of the residence. The lawsuit said Angela Bush was held for about a month in jail over the Christmas holiday.

Ingram said the officers searched the correct home because they had an “extensive” ongoing investigation into drug activity at the home. Ingram said Johnson was the primary target, and he was believed to have lived in the home with the Brown couple. Ingram said deputies seized about three pounds of marijuana during the search, which resulted in trafficking marijuana charges. But he said something happened to the charges when they went to a grand jury.

Barbour County District Attorney Ben Reeves could not be reached for comment on why there are apparently no longer charges in the case.

“We watched them take the marijuana out of the house, get on a four-wheeler and take it down to the woods,” Ingram said.