Former deputy facing Kane County drug charges fighting his arrest, search
A retired sheriff's deputy from Oregon accused of trafficking marijuana, heroin, methamphetamine and cocaine is fighting his February 2014 arrest.
William Floyd Marsh, Jr., 58, of Creswell, Ore., faces felony charges of drug trafficking and money laundering after a traffic stop on I-90 near Elgin produced two guns, $80,000 and leads to storage lockers in Chicago and Milwaukee, where more drugs were found and seized, authorities said.
Kane County Assistant Public Defender Jillian Weiss wants her client's arrest quashed and any subsequent evidence from the traffic stop banned from court.
Weiss argues Kane County Sheriff's Deputy Ron Hain violated Marsh's Constitutional protection against unreasonable search and seizure in a traffic stop on the interstate near Tyrell Road.
“From the inception of this traffic stop to its conclusion, Mr. Floyd's Fourth Amendment rights were violated numerous times,” argued Weiss in a motion filed earlier this month.
Weiss contends that Marsh was not doing anything wrong and did not have any outstanding warrants when pulled over and Hain needed more than a “hunch” to initiate the traffic stop.
Weiss also argues another officer “continually cued” a drug-sniffing dog and wrongly interpreted that the dog gave a positive signal. She also argues authorities needed a search warrant to search Marsh's cellphone and its GPS data.
Based on the traffic stop, authorities obtained search warrants for storage lockers in Chicago and Milwaukee. The Chicago search produced 55 pounds of high-grade marijuana worth an estimated $750,000, while the Milwaukee search turned up 6.3 pounds of methamphetamine, 2.4 pounds of heroin, and 5.7 pounds of cocaine, authorities have said.
Judge John Barsanti will hear oral arguments on Marsh's motion on Oct. 7.
If Barsanti agrees the arrest lacked probable cause, evidence seized from the storage lockers could be banned from court.
Since his arrest, Marsh, a retired deputy from the Clackmas County Sheriff Department, has been held at the Kane County jail on $15 million bail, meaning he must post $1.5 million and prove it came from legitimate sources to be released while the case is pending.
He faces anywhere from 12 to 60 years in prison if convicted.