USA: 4 Hanceville, Alabama Police Officers, The Police Chief, And Spouse Of An Officer Were Arrested After An Investigation Into The Death Of A Dispatcher Who Overdosed In His Office.

WHNT News 19 published February 19, 2025: Cullman County News Conference On Hanceville Arrests. Authorities said five Hanceville police officers and one of their spouses are facing charges as a result of an investigation following a dispatcher being found dead in the office in August 2024. News 19 is North Alabama's News Leader! We are the CBS affiliate in North Alabama and the Tennessee Valley since November 28, 1963.

WBRC 6 News published February 21, 2025: Multiple Hanceville officers indicted - Trust in police department at all-time low. Five officers with the Hanceville Police Department and one of their spouses have been indicted by a Cullman County grand jury and arrested on multiple charges.

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Hanceville police chief, 4 officers, spouse indicted and arrested amid investigation

written by WBRC Digital Staff, Jonathan Hardison, Morgan Hightower and Taylor Pollock

Thursday February 20, 2025

CULLMAN COUNTY, Alabama - Five officers with the Hanceville Police Department and one of their spouses have been indicted by a Cullman County grand jury and arrested on multiple charges.

Cullman District Attorney Champ Crocker made the announcement Wednesday afternoon during a news conference with Cullman County Sheriff Matt Gentry.

The following law enforcement officers have been indicted on the charges below:

Details on charges

Jason Shane Marlin, 51, Hanceville Police Chief, is charged with two counts of failure to report ethics crime and tampering with evidence.

Police Chief Jason Marlin, according to records, is accused of removing and/or mishandling evidence from the Hanceville Police Department’s evidence room. Those records also claim Marlin failed to report officers Cody Kelso and Wilbanks for violating ethics laws after being notified by the SBI.

Cody Alan Kelso, 33, is charged with two counts of computer tampering, two counts of using office for personal gain, tampering with evidence, and two counts of solicitation to commit a controlled substance crime.

Cody Kelso, according to court documents, is accused of soliciting anabolic steroids from Eric and Donna Kelso. He is also accused of removing or mishandling evidence in the Hanceville Police Department evidence room.

Cody Kelso is also accused of traveling to a local hospital while on duty to receive anabolic steroid shots from Donna Kelso.

Jason Scott Wilbanks, 37, is charged with two counts of computer tampering, two counts of using office for personal gain, tampering with evidence, and two counts of solicitation to commit a controlled substance crime.

Wilbanks, according to court records, is accused of using a department issued cell phone to get controlled substances from Eric and Donna Kelso. Those records also accuse Wilbanks of traveling to a local hospital while on duty to receive anabolic steroid shots from Donna Kelso.

Those records also claim Wilbanks used police department computers to access information about two different people, a John Doe and a Jane Doe, to provide to a co-conspirator.

Wilbanks, too, is accused of removing or mishandling evidence in the Hanceville Police Department’s evidence room. He’s also accused in court documents of soliciting anabolic steroids and hydrocodone from Eric and Donna Kelso.

William Andrew Shellnutt, 39, is charged with tampering with evidence.

Shelnutt is accused in court documents of removing or mishandling evidence in the Hanceville Police Department evidence room.

Eric Michael Kelso, 44, is charged with four counts of unlawful distribution of controlled substance and two counts conspiracy to unlawfully distribute a controlled substance.

According to court documents, Eric Kelso is accused of distributing Adderall. He’s also accused of distributing hydrocodone, and working with his wife Donna Kelso to distribute anabolic steroids to Jason Wilbanks, as well as Cody Kelso.

Donna Reid Kelso, 63, the spouse of Eric Kelso, is charged with two counts of unlawful distribution of a controlled substance and two counts conspiracy to unlawfully distribute a controlled substance.

According to court records, Donna Kelso is accused of working with her husband to distribute anabolic steroids to Wilbanks and Cody Kelso.

All six individuals turned themselves into authorities and have bonded out of jail.

During Wednesday’s news conference, Crocker weighed on the consequences of the suspect’s actions.

“With these indictments, these officers find themselves on the opposite end of the laws they were sworn to uphold. Wearing a badge is a privilege and an honor, and the most law enforcement officers take seriously. A badge is not a license to corrupt the administration of justice, and when law enforcement officers abuse their power, they do damage to the public’s trust in law enforcement,” said Crocker.

He continued, “Our law enforcement officers in this county put their lives on the line every day to protect the citizens. And those officers who would break the law diminish the sacrifices of the overwhelming majority of officers who protect and serve, and when law enforcement officers do not meet the standard that they should, they will be held accountable.”

Death of Hanceville 911 dispatcher

Crocker said the grand jury suggested the August 2024 death of a Hanceville 911 dispatcher, Christopher Willingham, who died of a drug overdose, was a direct result of “negligence and disregard for life” by the Hanceville Police Department.

“One of the most concerning things that we discovered in this process was that Hanceville Police Department’s evidence room was not secure,” said Crocker. “Criminal evidence must be secured in order to have that evidence for prosecution and to ensure due process. This evidence room was anything but secure.”

During the news conference, Crocker showed a photo of the evidence room, pointing out a hole in the door and a broom against the wall.

“This is someone who works there, and you can see this individual has this stick in his hand and is pushing it in the door, in the hole to jimmy open the door, and the grand jury watched a lot of videos, this is from security camera footage, showing this evidence room was routinely accessed by individuals who were not authorized to do so, going in and out using the stick through the hole in the wall,” explained Crocker.

He showed another image of a person with their head and upper body in the hole attempting to open the door to the evidence room, which Crocker said was “quite a common occurrence.”

Crocker said Willingham accessed the evidence room the day of his death, and was found with evidence in his office. No one has been charged with his death, and the coroner ruled it an accident.

What’s Next

Crocker said Hanceville’s municipal judge has requested a state audit of the evidence room, to determine how much evidence might have been compromised.

“Some of those cases are in the Municipal Court of Hanceville. Some of those cases, if they’re felonies, are cases that we handle in state court. We are going to begin a review process of all those cases. We will look at those on a case by case basis. I am not optimistic about the ability to prosecute cases with hampered evidence,” said Crocker.

Sheriff Gentry said the City of Hanceville has not requested the Cullman County Sheriff’s Office assistance, but said he is making arrangements in the event that happens.

“I’ve already spoke with the Chairman of the County Commission. We’ve already started negotiations with the leadership in Hanceville to see what it would look like, but we would take over all responsibilities from patrol in that area, investigation in that area, dispatch and the jail,” said Sheriff Gentry.