Home of woman with Alzheimer’s disease used for drug operation, cops say

Left to right: John Franklyn, Thomas Summers and Gordon Hobday face felony drug charges.

Credit: Marietta Police Department

Credit: Marietta Police Department

Left to right: John Franklyn, Thomas Summers and Gordon Hobday face felony drug charges.

Police have busted a drug operation that they say was run out of the Marietta home of a woman with Alzheimer’s disease.

John Franklyn, Gordon Hobday and Thomas Summers were arrested on felony drug charges Monday after officers seized 65 grams of methamphetamine along with heroin, marijuana and other drug paraphernalia from the home in the 100 block of Chicopee Drive, police said.

Franklyn and Hobday “were using the house and taking advantage of the elderly woman who had no understanding of what was happening,” Marietta police Officer Chuch McPhilamy said. Summers, McPhamily said, was more like a guest.

The operation was discovered after authorities got an anonymous tip about illegal drug activity near the intersection of Chicopee Drive and Cherokee Street. Officers were dispatched to the scene about 12:10 a.m.

When they arrived, they questioned a man on the scene for loitering in front of a closed medical facility, McPhilamy said. He told police his car was parked in front of the woman’s home across the street. Drug paraphernalia and suspected narcotics were in the car in plain view, McPhamily said.

Police, who had gotten multiple calls to the woman’s home in the past, decided to check on her.

“While checking on the elderly woman,” McPhilamy said, “multiple suspicious items appearing to be illegal narcotics were visible in plain sight.”

Officers also found multiple people, including Franklyn, Hobday and Summers, inside the home with the suspected drugs, according to police.

Franklyn was arrested felony charges of trafficking methamphetamine, heroin possession and elder exploitation. He also faces a misdemeanor marijuana charge.

Hobday was arrested on felony methamphetamine possession and elder exploitation charges, police said.

Summers faces a charge of felony methamphetamine possession.

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