A man and woman are behind bars after a Greenville Police Department investigation led authorities to an apartment where marijuana was allegedly being sold.

Akeem Thompson, 27, and Shamika McDonald, 28, were both arrested and charged with first-degree possession of marijuana on the heels of an investigation that stemmed from a tip.

“It all started with Sgt. Kenneth Hadley,” said GPD Lt. Joe Disney.

“Sgt. Hadley of our investigations department worked a lead that gave him some information about possible drugs being in an apartment at Heatherton Apartments on School Highland Road.  He was able to gather enough information to obtain a search warrant, and we—Sgt. Hadley, me and some guys from the Special Response Team and the drug taskforce—went over there Monday afternoon at around 5:30 p.m. and executed that warrant.

““Sgt. Hadley did a really good job of working it from basically start to finish.”

It was there that officers found six separate bags of marijuana that they believed were packaged for resale, all totaling to about an ounce and a half.

Disney added that it was the possible intent to sell that invited the first-degree charge.

“There are two different ways to charge someone with first-degree marijuana possession,” Disney said. “The first is just a very, very large quantity.

“But if it’s individually packaged with possible intent for resale, that’s when we can charge them with first-degree, also.  And the information we got that led to the search warrant was that marijuana was being sold out of that apartment, and then once we got there and found the marijuana it was packaged for what we believe to be resale.”

The apprehending of Thompson and McDonald went without incident, according to Disney.  The pair each gave statements afterward to Hadley and were both placed in the Butler County Correctional Facility on bond.

First-degree marijuana possession is a class C felony that carries a sentence of one to 10 years in prison without prior felonies, two to 20 years with a prior conviction, 10 to 99 years with two prior convictions and 15 to 99 years or life with three prior convictions.