A Lake County Sheriff’s Police officer bonded out of the Porter County Jail on Thursday shortly after being formally booked on multiple drug charges, the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office said.

According to court documents, Gary Pilipovich, 29, of 3370 Reserve Drive, No. 115, has been charged with possession of cocaine, possession of a controlled substance, and possession of a syringe, all Class D felonies punishable by a term of six months to three years.

Pilipovich was also charged with misdemeanor counts of possession of marijuana and possession of paraphernalia.

Lake County Sheriff John Buncich said that Pilipovich—an eight-year veteran of the LCSP—has been suspended, the Associated Press reported this morning.

The investigation into Pilipovich began last week when a Portage Police officer assisting with an eviction observed “in plain sight” a bag of suspected marijuana, the AP reported.

On Tuesday, officers found the following items after executing a search warrant at Pilipovich’s residence, the probable cause affidavit states: a substance which field-tested positive for cocaine in a plastic bottle in Pilipovich’s master bedroom; and tablets of acetaminophen and hydrocodone bitrate, amphetamine and dextroamphetamine, and alprazolam in an unmarked container in Pilipovich’s 2000 Pontiac Trans Am.

Also found, the affidavit states: three baggies of marijuana, one of them in a LCSP bag; and a smoking device with burnt residue.

Posted 6/15/2018