Former Monroe jail officer with local ties resigns after arrest

A Monroe County Jail Correctional Officer, who lives in rural Solsberry, has resigned after he was arrested Tuesday afternoon on variety of preliminary charges including theft, drug dealing, drug possession, public intoxication, and neglect of a dependent.

Jason Noah Helton, 32, was arrested by Bloomington police and booked into the Monroe County Jail at 5:32 p.m. on Tuesday. He bonded out of the jail where he had previously worked as a correctional officer for the past three years on Wednesday afternoon.

No date has been set for his initial court appearance, according to a spokesperson at the Monroe County Sheriff's Department.

Bloomington City Police officers were called to Lowe's, 350 N. Gates Drive, for a reported suspicious man who was possibly intoxicated with a small female child about 1:55 p.m. on Tuesday, according to Lt. David Drake.

"When they (police) get there Helton is basically slumped over in one of the aisles staring at his cellphone like he is trying to figure it out and he was hitting himself in the face with it," Drake told the Greene County Daily World.

Officers checked on Helton and found several different kinds of prescription pills, which are controlled substances, in large amounts on his person.

"He had seven knives in his pockets," Drake said. "They (police) determined that several of the knives were exactly the same kind that they sold in the store."

The 1-year-old girl who was with Helton at the store was released to the custody of her mother.

During the course of the investigation, police interviewed and also arrested two brothers, from Owen County, who said Helton had paid them in prescription pills to steal tools for him, Drake said.

David Bartholomew Meadows, 35, of Freedom, was arrested on preliminary charges of possession of a controlled substance and theft and booked into Monroe County Jail on Tuesday. Bond was set at $4,000 surety, $500 cash.

Nathan Kyle Meadows, 32, of Gosport, was arrested on a preliminary charge of theft. Bond was set at $4,000 surety, $500 cash, but he is being held on a Lawrence County charge, according to Lt. Drake.

"A subsequent investigation determined that Helton had offered to give the Meadows brothers pills if they would steal items from Lowes for him and put them in the back of his truck," Drake stated.

Officers were dispatched to the parking lot to search Helton's truck and found almost $700 of stolen merchandise from Lowe's -- knives, power tools, bolt cutters, a cable cutter, several flashlights and other items, Drake said.