2 more arrested in drug sweep

Two more Cape Girardeau County suspects named in a multicounty drug sweep were in custody Friday. Details also were released on the death of a Stoddard County suspect while in custody.

The Jackson Police Department reported arresting Daniel L. Abner, 24, wanted for selling marijuana and psychedelic mushrooms to an undercover officer in October. Jackson police listed Abner's address as Bell City, Mo.

The Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department reported arresting Elijah K. Holloman, 34, of Portageville, Mo., who was wanted on charges of selling crack to an undercover officer.

The body of James Hobbs, another suspect arrested on charges of distributing a controlled substance and listed in warrants as a Bloomfield, Mo., resident, was autopsied Friday at the Mineral Area Hospital in Farmington, Mo., said Dale Sifford, deputy coroner for Stoddard County. Results of the autopsy won't be known until next week at the earliest, Sifford said.

Stoddard County Sheriff Carl Hefner did not return calls Friday from the Southeast Missourian. But in an interview with the Dexter Daily Statesman, Hefner said Hobbs, 43, was found hanging from the bars of his cell less than two hours after entering the jail.

"This is definitely something we don't want to see happen," Hefner told the newspaper. "We take every precaution we can to prevent inmates from doing something like this."

In the interview, Hefner described a busy day at the jail, with prisoners and guards going in and out of the cell block repeatedly as they were taken to the county justice center for court appearances. In addition, Hefner told the Dexter newspaper, an officer was handing out mail to prisoners at the time Hobbs was placed in his cell.

Hobbs was put in a cell with another inmate who was sleeping. There was a 20-minute time span with no one coming or going, Hefner said, and Hobbs apparently tied a mattress cover to the bars and hung himself. A trustee at the jail saw him and attempted to lift him to relieve the stress on his neck.

Deputies called for emergency personnel, and a prisoner who is a former medic attempted CPR on Hobbs, Hefner said. Despite that effort, the work of emergency responders and efforts at Missouri Southern Healthcare in Dexter, Mo., Hobbs was pronounced dead.

Hobbs was last in the jail in 2000 on minor charges, Hefner said.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol was called to investigate the death.

rkeller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126