A Linton man is due in court this week to face a charge of dealing in marijuana. He was arrested earlier this month after LPD officers executed search warrants for his home and phone.

Brayden Levi Hancock, 22, Linton, was arrested by Officer Nick Yingling of the Linton Police Department after a search warrant was executed at Hancock’s residence late Saturday, February 8.

Hancock was booked into the Greene County Jail around 12:40 a.m. on Sunday, February 9. His bond was set at $2,000 surety with ten percent cash allowed. He posted $200 and was released.

Hancock is scheduled to appear in Greene Superior Court this Thursday, February 20, on charges of dealing in marijuana, a Class A misdemeanor, and possession of marijuana, a Class B misdemeanor.

Officer Yingling arrived at Hancock’s residence on NE F Street in Linton on Saturday, February 8, to investigate a complaint of animal cruelty. Officer Yingling said he could smell the odor of burnt marijuana while outside. He could hear multiple voices inside but they stopped talking when he knocked on the door. He could hear someone walk to the door but no one answered it. So he knocked again then yelled “police” and yelled that he could hear the people inside. Hancock then answered the door.

Officer Yingling reported that when the door opened, the odor got stronger. Hancock said he didn’t know anything about an animal and he told the officer to leave a couple of times. But Yingling didn’t leave – he told Hancock he was being detained. Yingling requested a search warrant.

Other officers arrived to assist on the scene and they found four other individuals inside the residence. Another individual had crawled through a window and fled. All the individuals who were present were interviewed. They said they were there drinking alcohol. A couple allegedly said Hancock had brought out a “blunt” to smoke and they smoked it, but the other two denied smoking anything.

Yingling reported the officers found multiple bags of green plant material that field-tested positive for marijuana, a roll of shrink wrap nearby with a heat sealer, weighing scales, a grinder, smoking devices and other paraphernalia plus $642 in small bills.

Yingling also applied for a search warrant for Hancock’s cell phone and when it was executed, it allegedly yielded messages, texts and other information about the buying and selling of marijuana.