August 13, 2026

Former Alabama Police Chief, Officers Agree to Plea Agreement in Corruption Case

By J. Thomas Wade
Blue RAM Media/Gulf Region News

August 13, 2026

HANCEVILLE, Ala. An on-duty drug overdose of a police dispatcher led county investigators to discover corruption and ethics violations in this small town’s police department.

The police chief and at least one police officer was arrested a number of charges.

Now, the former Hanceville Police Chief Jason Marlin and former Hanceville Police Officer Jason Wilbanks are set to enter plea agreements in the corruption case that may have gone unnoticed had it not been for the employee’s drug overdose county sheriff investigators said.

Marlin faces 2 counts of failure to report ethics crime and tampering with evidence.

Marlin, according to records, is accused of removing and/or mishandling evidence from the Hanceville Police Department’s evidence room. Those records also claim Marlin failed to report officers Cody Kelso and Wilbanks for violating ethics laws after being notified by the SBI.

Wilbanks is charged with two counts of computer tampering, two counts of using office for personal gain, tampering with evidence and two counts of solicitation to commit a controlled substance crime.

The investigation into several incidents of wrongdoing by members of the small police force and according to court records, Wilbanks, is accused of using a department issued cell phone to get controlled substances from Eric and Donna Kelso. Those records also accuse Wilbanks of traveling to a local hospital while on duty to receive anabolic steroid shots from Donna Kelso.

Those records also claim Wilbanks used police department computers to access information about two different people, a John Doe and a Jane Doe, to provide to a co-conspirator.

Wilbanks, too, is accused of removing or mishandling evidence in the Hanceville Police Department’s evidence room. He’s also accused in court documents of soliciting anabolic steroids and hydrocodone from Eric and Donna Kelso.

Marlin and Wilbanks, according to court records, will enter their pleas in court on Wednesday, August 19.

It’s unknown at this time if anyone else will be charged in any of these crimes.

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