Photo of the entrance to the Brazos County courthouse, April 13 2016.
Six members of a former local fraternity were in a Brazos County district courtroom last Friday making their case to throw out felony drug charges. Following oral arguments on their motion to suppress evidence found by College Station police at the now dormant Sigma Nu house, lawyers were told to submit written arguments by October 25th. A seventh former member is scheduled to go on trial next month on a misdemeanor charge. Two others pleaded no contest to misdemeanor charges. And a tenth member was arrested last month. The search at the Sigma Nu house followed last year’s death of an 11th member last year from an accidental overdose of several different types of opiates.
Photo of Jerome Searcy from https://jailsearch.brazoscountytx.gov/JailSearch/default.aspxA Bryan man whose criminal history includes an attempted murder 21 years ago has returned to prison. The Brazos County district attorney’s office reports 39 year old Jerome Searcy admitted to multiple drug charges and was sentenced to 30 years in prison. Prosecutors cited three incidents that took place in April and in August of last year. The first, on April Fools Day, officers found about $2,700 dollars of cocaine after Searcy’s car was pulled over for running a stop sign. On August 18th of last year, Searcy was able to elude officers from another traffic violation. He was caught August 30th of last year during a search of his home where more cocaine was found, along with $10,000 dollars cash.
Photo of Shonley Ballom from https://jailsearch.brazoscountytx.gov/JailSearch/default.aspxThe DA’s office also reports a Bryan man was sentenced to seven years in prison for two residential burglaries that took place in September of last year. The punishment for 19 year old Shonley Ballom was a combination of a jury conviction for breaking into a home while three Texas A&M students were sleeping. The next night, Ballom was discovered in another home by the occupant who had walked into the kitchen. All the property taken from both burglaries was found in Ballom’s home. Prosecutors also reported Ballom’s sentence included guilty pleas to misdemeanor crimes of a vehicle burglary, evading arrest, family violence assault, and violating a protective order.
