Area sheriff uses money seized from drug dealers to get new drug-sniffing dog

HAMMOND - The Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's Office is putting money taken through drug busts and putting it toward their fight against narcotics.

The sheriff's office announced in a news release Wednesday that it had welcomed the newest member of the department, a one -year- old Fox Red Labrador Retriever. Sheriff Daniel Edwards said Slash was purchased using funds awarded to the sheriff's office from drug arrests.

Slash was only just formally introduced, but he has already made his first bust, thwarting an apparent attempt to sneak contraband into the parish jail Tuesday. Sheriff Edwards said the K-9 caught 50-year-old Martha Reed and 30-year-old Canekia Robertson with marijuana inside their vehicle on the jail property. An infant was also inside the vehicle at the time.

Both women were taken into custody and booked on charges of possession of drug paraphernalia, introduction of contraband into a correctional facility and child desertion. The child was released to a family member by the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services.