Elwood football players arrested in drug case - Fox 59

ELWOOD – Two Elwood High School football players were arrested and released to their parents after an incident involving drugs, police said.

Authorities are looking into an incident before Friday's game against Blackford High School.

"We had two students involved in an exchange of some type of medication on or around the football stadium," said Superintendent Dr. Tim Smith with the Elwood Community School Corporation.

Elwood detectives said the medication was hydrocodone. Authorities are investigating where the drugs came from and whether other Elwood High School football players were involved. Smith said this incident is isolated.

Two players were charged in this case. A 17-year-old student was charged with dealing in a controlled substance and possession of a controlled substance. Both are felonies. The second player, who is 16, was charged with possession of a controlled substance, also a felony.

Smith said school officials contacted authorities immediately on Friday night. He received a phone call about the incident around 6:15 p.m. Both athletes consistently played for the team, but their names aren't being released because both players are minors.

"It's very disappointing, but again in dealing with students, part of our job as educators is to create opportunities for them to learn and learn from their poor choices," Smith said. "This is obviously a situation where we hope, through our due process of these students and through the legal process, these students will be given (an) opportunity to correct the wrong they've done and help send a message to our other students that this is something that's not going to be tolerated in Elwood schools."

Smith said school administrators searched locker rooms and other areas rumored to have ties to the case, but nothing was found. Smith said they have not had a drug dog in the building, but it's something he's considering in order to make sure it is not an "ongoing issue."

"We're moving towards really positive things here and I hope we can take this unfortunate situation and turn it into a learning situation for all other students and our community," Smith said.

Elwood detectives continue to investigate this case. Smith would not elaborate on the status of either player.