Commerce councilwoman facing drug-related charges

GBI NEWS RELEASE:

“…The GBI has arrested (Commerce City Councilwoman) Roshuanda Merritt, age 43…following a drug investigation in Jackson County. Merritt was charged with criminal attempt to commit sale of marijuana and use of a telecommunication facility to facilitate a felony.

Prior to the drug investigation, Jackson County Sheriff’s Office conducted an unrelated investigation in which investigators discovered Merritt distributed marijuana from her home in Jackson County. In December 2023, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office requested the GBI Appalachian Regional Drug Enforcement Office to investigate Merritt and allegations that she was distributing marijuana. As a result of the investigation, the GBI arrested Merritt.

Merritt turned herself in on January 19, 2024, and was booked at the Jackson County Jail.”

About the Author

Ken Stanford is Online News Editor for GLORY 97.5, a position he has held since August 2022.

Ken was born in Moultrie, Georgia, and says he knew from the time he was 5 or 6 he wanted to be a “radio announcer.” That dream was realized when he was hired by Moultrie radio station WMTM in 1960 at the age of 15 as a weekend disc jockey. A 1963 graduate of Moultrie (now Colquitt County) High School, he has spent his whole career in Georgia working for stations in Atlanta, Marietta, and Gainesville – most recently as News Director for 40 years at WDUN in Gainesville. He is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force Reserves.

Ken retired in 2011 but came out of retirement last year to help GLORY, on a part-time basis, beef-up its online news presence.

He is the recipient of many Associated Press awards and is a former judge of state and national Associated Press broadcast news contests. In 2005, he was presented with the Georgia Associated Press Broadcasters Association’s President’s Award for Excellence in Journalism and in 2019 was inducted into the Georgia Radio Hall of Fame.

He lives in Gainesville with his wife of 52 years, the former Sandra McKnight of Clio, Alabama, and they have one child, a daughter, Lisa, who lives in Cumming with her family.