Small Town Mayor Arrested For Selling Pot Near Elementary School
From the archive: published Nov 29, 2012, 13 years ago. Details may have changed since.
Olive Hill, KY — An investigation of several weeks by an interdepartmental task force into criminal activity involving a small town mayor concluded Wednesday evening after the man was arrested for selling marijuana to a police informant .
Danny Sparks, mayor of Olive Hill in northern Kentucky, met the informant in the parking lot of an elementary school to make the sale.
Police noted that another man, who had an ongoing “personal relationship” with Sparks, had also been detained.
The arrest was made by Olive Hill police and the FADE drug task force around 5 pm Wednesday. Police began investigating Sparks after tips were submitted to FADE officers, police Chief Bobby Hall said.
“We had been looking into it for some time,” he said.
Sparks initially called his arrest a mistake, but said in a statement issued Wednesday that he would resign from his decade-long role as mayor effective immediately.
Sparks said:
“I hope that everyone will understand that I have always tried to do the very best for Olive Hill and hope that the people will understand that I will always try to continue to help in any way possible to better this City regardless of what position I may serve.”
He continued, “What happen(ed) tonight is something I have never done before and deeply regret it and hope to move on.”
Police have charged Danny Sparks with trafficking marijuana within 1,000 feet of a school, which is a class D felony. If convicted, he faces no less than one year and no more than five years in prison. The amount of pot sold to the police informant was not disclosed.