Tyler woman, others arrested in Monday raid

Published 2:44 pm Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Around 4 p.m. Monday afternoon, a team of officers in the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office’s (DCSO) Narcotics Enforcement Team (NET), under the leadership of DCSO Sgt. David Odom, descended on a residence in the Tyler community to execute a narcotics search warrant.

Inside, officers found at least one ounce of high-potency methamphetamine, known as ice, alongside bags of homemade methamphetamine, four firearms, an undisclosed amount of cash, drug paraphernalia, scales and ledgers.

Additionally, officers noticed they were being filmed via the home’s surveillance system.

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The owner of the residence, a 67-year-old woman named Jan Thompson, was arrested and charged with two counts of distribution of a controlled substance, one count of possession with intent to distribute and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Odom noted that because the home was within three miles of a school – the residence is approximately 1.8 miles from Southside High School – Thompson will face an additional five years of prison time if convicted.

Thompson’s car was also impounded as, Odom notes, it was used in transporting narcotics.

Another resident of the home, a 32-year old white named Erica Seales, was arrested and charged with possession of marijuana in the second degree, as well as possession of a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia.

A third subject, Marcus Mehan, a 34-year-old man, was also arrested and charged with possession of a controlled substance – Mehan is not a resident of the home and Odom believes he was simply “in the wrong place at the wrong time,” likely on hand to purchase drugs.

Odom said that NET, a unit he created and oversees, which is manned by a team of K9 officers, patrol officers and the sergeant himself, ran across Thompson’s operation after undercover officers purchased narcotics from her.

“Based on intelligence we’ve received…[Thompson] was selling around three to five ounces a week,” Odom said

According to Odom, Thompson was not involved in cooking the drugs – the high-potency methamphetamine she had on hand could only have been manufactured at what Odom called a “super lab,” though he believes it’s coming from somewhere inside the state.

The Tyler bust was NET’s first operation and Odom sees it as a significant success for the unit, which he says will be dogged in pursuing leads that will take drugs off the streets of Dallas County.

“We’re going to take an aggressive approach,” Odom said. “We’re going to have a zero-tolerance policy.”

Odom noted that often his work tackling the scourge of narcotics in the area forces him to deal with theft and stolen property, as drug dealers will often trade products for the pilfered goods, but he sees methamphetamine as one of the area’s most significant problems.

“It’s a major problem,” Odom said. “That’s probably the biggest problem we have right now – methamphetamine.”