Bryan County Sheriff’s Deputy Donald L. Thompson of Pembroke turned himself in to BCSD Dec. 19 and faces drug charges, according to an arrest report.

He is charged with failure to keep a controlled substance in the correct container, possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance and possession of a controlled substance. The charges followed an investigation stemming from a complaint, according to Sheriff Clyde Smith.

"We received a complaint from a citizen, we investigated the complaint and found him to be in possession of the drugs," he said.

Smith said the accusation came as a surprise.

"I was very surprised when the complaint was made and surprised when we found him to be in possession of the drugs. I considered (Thompson) to be a good officer," he said.

It was unclear whether Thompson, who is 40, resigned or was fired, but Smith said he is no longer with the department.

Attempts to get an initial incident report have been unsuccessful. And Smith said he would "rather not" specify the type of drugs allegedly found in Thompson’s possession but said they were in the "scheduled drugs," category.

According to a long DEA list (http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/pubs/scheduling.html), scheduled drugs range from prescription pain killers and their components to marijuana and cocaine with many others in between.

Thompson reportedly was also a part time Pembroke Police Department officer but recently resigned from the force. Interim Chief Strickland declined to comment.

Thompson, who is out of jail on $5,000 bond, could not be reached. He was with BCSD for about two years, Smith said.