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Jared Cunningham

Housing board member booked on meth charge

A Morgan City Housing Authority board member was allegedly caught with drugs Wednesday night in Berwick, becoming the second board member within the past two years to be arrested on drug charges.

The arrest came just one day after the Morgan City Council had reappointed him to the board.

Jared Cunningham, 45, of Helen Drive in Morgan City, was arrested at 11 p.m. Wednesday on charges of possession of methamphetamine, Subutex and drug paraphernalia, Berwick Assistant Police Chief David Leonard said.

Cunningham was awaiting bail to be set. The Morgan City Council had reappointed Cunningham to the Morgan City Housing Authority board on Tuesday. Cunningham was first appointed to the board in October 2015.

On Wednesday night, a Berwick police officer was on regular patrol and saw a vehicle with a Louisiana temporary tag with no license plate light on U.S. 90 merging lanes, Leonard said. The officer conducted a traffic stop, and Cunningham was the driver.

Police gained consent to search the vehicle and located a clear bag containing a substance believed to be methamphetamine in the vehicle, Leonard said. The officer also found a syringe during the search, and found pills on Cunningham.

Cunningham told the officer that the pills were Subutex pills, for which he didn’t have a prescription, Leonard said.

Cunningham’s arrest is the second drug-related arrest of a Morgan City Housing Authority board member within the past two years.

In August 2016, former Morgan City Housing Authority Chairman Victory Ho resigned from the board after he was arrested with two others on multiple drug charges.

St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s Office investigators searched a business and home in Morgan City and located synthetic urine, marijuana, subscription pills, Subutex pills and drug paraphernalia items during the searches, Sheriff Mark Hebert said in August 2016. The sheriff’s office also seized $27,000 in cash and an SUV during that investigation.

Morgan City Housing Authority Director Clarence Robinson and Mayor Frank “Boo” Grizzaffi both said Thursday morning that they had no comment on Cunningham’s arrest.

ST. MARY NOW

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