A Cole County man charged in connection with an April 2020 drug bust in Wardsville was placed on five years supervised probation for pleading guilty to accessory to second-degree drug trafficking.
Jeremy Bussone, 30, pleaded guilty to accessory to second-degree drug trafficking during a hearing before Cole County Judge Cotton Walker. Bussone was placed on five years supervised probation.
Two others charged in this case were previously sentenced for the charges they faced.
Jennie Branham, 41, pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree drug trafficking for her role in the case during a hearing last month before Cole County Judge Dan Green. She was placed on five years supervised probation. If she is found to have violated conditions of her probation, she faces a possibility of seven years in prison.
Also charged in the case was Clayton Pace, 24, who pleaded guilty in June to felony charges of delivery of a controlled substance and maintaining a public nuisance. Cole County Presiding Judge Jon Beetem ordered him to complete an intensive drug treatment program in the Department of Corrections.
During the same hearing, a second-degree drug trafficking charge against Pace's girlfriend, Sidney Rodriguez, 25, was dismissed.
The Cole County Sheriff's Department SWAT Team and members of the Mustang Drug Task Force served a narcotics search warrant in the 6600 block of Route B in Wardsville, according to a Sheriff's Department news release. Deputies seized approximately 168 grams, or one-third of a pound, of methamphetamine.
Sheriff's Department probable cause statements note all four involved in the case lived at the residence.
Authorities reported they found a safe in a bedroom along with a large amount of drug packaging materials and scales. The methamphetamine seized was found in the safe.