Community Corner

$25K Bond for 'Molly' Defendants

The current and former high school athletes from Cartersville and Bartow County were arrested on drug distribution charges.

Updated 12:30 p.m.

LSU baseball signee and Rydal resident Dylan Williams was released from jail about 7 p.m. last night and his attorney Neal Brunt says he's hopeful the charges against Williams will be dropped, reports the Shreveport Times
Neal said Williams was in the home playing video games when the drug task force raided.

He faces charges of trafficking ecstasy, possession of marijuana with the intent to distribute and possession of a firearm during a drug felony.

Williams father, Lathy Williams, released a statement, which read in part: "Dylan is absolutely innocent of all charges and accusations that have been brought against him. His only mistake was being in the wrong place at the wrong tim," according to the newspaper. 

Original Report

Four Bartow residents, including three current or former high school athletes who were arrested July 23 during the county's first "Molly" bust, were granted $25,000 bond.

Dylan Cade Williams, 18, who had signed on for a baseball scholarship to play at LSU; Brandon Shea Etheridge, 18, Cass High School's starting quarterback; Samuel Lawrence Ayers, who is to attend an Alabama community college on a baseball scholarship; and Dustin Bradley Bush, 18, appeared before Superior Court Judge Carey Nelson for Tuesday bond hearings, according to The Daily Tribune News, which has more on what was allegedly found July 25 in the Benefield Circle home in Cartersville. 

Following a traffic stop that day, which led to a search warrant, the Bartow-Cartersville Drug Task Force arrested seven people on drug and weapons charges and seized alleged molly—a form of MDMA or ecstasy with a chemical make-up similar to that of methamphetamine—and high-grade marijuana.

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