Two women arrested in Switz City area last Friday night

Two women were arrested in the Switz City area last Friday night. One was wanted on a warrant out of Vigo County – she was found hiding in the woods. The other, who was on probation after a drug conviction, is accused of assisting a criminal as well as meth possession.

Carlia Kaye Bruner

Carlia Kaye Bruner, 38, Terre Haute, and Linda Jo Secrest, 43, Switz City, were both arrested by Deputy Jordan Allor of the Greene County Sheriff’s Department last Friday night, August 21. Bruner was booked in around 10:06 p.m. and was being held without bond pending transport to Vigo County. Secrest was booked in around 10:49 p.m. and was being held without bond pending court appearance.

Linda Jo Secrest

Deputy Allor began an investigation last Thursday, August 20, when a woman contacted the sheriff’s department and said Secrest, who was her mother-in-law, had borrowed her husband’s vehicle days earlier, was supposed to return it but had not returned it. She said she didn’t want Secrest to be charged with theft – she just wanted the vehicle back.

Deputy Allor and Deputy Michael Stanley attempted to locate Secrest that day, with no success.

The next day, last Friday around 6 p.m., the woman called again. Secrest was at the residence where they all lived, with the vehicle. She wanted help getting the keys to the vehicle.

Deputies Allor and Stanley responded to the residence, located on West County Road 60 North in the Switz City area, and talked to Secrest who said her son wanted her to take his things and the vehicle and she would hand over the keys if her son told her to, but he was in a medical facility.

Secrest was currently on probation and her probation officer said she must consent to a search of her property. Secrest did not want to consent to a search because she said many people lived at the residence and she thought someone may have planted items in her room to get her in trouble. She was told that if she did not consent to a search, her probation would be violated, and she agreed.

Deputy Allor reported that when the two deputies executed a search, they located five syringes in Secrest’s room, one in Secrest’s purse along with a black digital scale with white powder residue, a purple tube tooter with white residue and three smoking devices. The syringes and scale field-tested positive for methamphetamine.

In addition, deputies found a cell phone belonging to Carlia Bruner along with Bruner’s wallet with Bruner’s identification card. Bruner was wanted on a warrant issued out of Vigo County. When asked, Secrest said she had not seen Bruner for a couple of days, that Bruner had left and she did not know where she was.

The deputies then went to the back of the property and checked around a wood line where Deputy Allor saw a woman on the ground in the woods. The woman, who was ordered to get up and come out of the woods, was then identified as Bruner. Bruner allegedly told Deputy Allor that Secrest knew she had a warrant out for her arrest. She said she had told Secrest.

Bruner was handcuffed and taken to a patrol vehicle and transported to Greene County Jail by GCSD Deputy Zachary Goad. Then Secrest was handcuffed and taken to a patrol vehicle and transported by Deputy Allor.

A date for Secrest’s initial hearing has not yet been set, but when she appears in court, she will be formally charged with:

• Assisting a criminal, a Level 6 felony,

• Possession of methamphetamine, a Level 6 felony,

• Unlawful possession of a syringe, a Level 6 felony, and

• Possession of paraphernalia, a Class C misdemeanor.