Rutledge guard charged after officials find marijuana on prison grounds

A 21-year-old guard with the Jack T. Rutledge State Prison in Columbus was arrested Sunday night after authorities allegedly found marijuana in his vehicle that was parked on prison grounds, according to an arrest report with the Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office.

Raymourn Brown Jr. appeared in Municipal Court early Monday to face one count each of violation of oath of office, possession of less than an ounce of marijuana, possession of a drug-related object and crossing the guard line with intoxicants.

His case has since been bound over to the Superior Court, a jail official confirmed Monday afternoon. As of Tuesday, he was still incarcerated at the Muscogee County Jail.

A deputy with the Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office said he was called to the state prison at 7175 Manor Road at 9:38 p.m. Sunday to investigate the incident. Upon arrival, he spoke with the warden and two other officials who stated that a staff member saw a marijuana cigarette in Brown’s possession.

Authorities said Brown confirmed it was marijuana and said they would find more in his vehicle. While searching the vehicle, the deputy located a small bag of suspected marijuana and drug paraphernalia, according to the report.

A reporter with the Ledger-Enquirer made multiple attempts on Monday and Tuesday to reach the Office of Public Affairs at the Georgia Department of Corrections for comment but was unsuccessful.

This story was originally published May 24, 2016 at 1:55 PM with the headline "Rutledge guard charged after officials find marijuana on prison grounds."