Brian C.T. Jones, Limestone County District Attorney

02/14/2026

Limestone County Challenges

Pay now or pay later

We previous talked about our jail being at capacity and possible ways to improve the situation. One issue is an under funded DA's office. I asked our DA his thoughts and they are below.

"In 2025 the grand jury processed 1,314 charges within 622 indictments. This doesn’t even count all the cases in District Court, Juvenile Court, Traffic Court, probation revocation court, and the pending cases from previous years. That translates into literally hundreds of cases assigned to each Assistant DA, thousands assigned to a single grand jury coordinator, and after the layoff, we no longer have a dedicated Victim Service Officer, so that’s thousands of cases where the victim advocacy gets spread out amongst the staff when they have time from their full time position to support the victims in our community."

I requested $ 50,000 for the DA's office in this year's budget, since then I have brought it up in a work session. The current Chairman has been clear, he is opposed to the county providing funding to the DA's office.

While it is a State office and should be funded by the State, it like many DA's office across the state are underfunded.

Because of that, 65 percent of DA offices in the state receive funding from the counties they serve. Of the 15 largest counties in the state Limestone is the only county that does not provide funds to its DA. In counties of our size, (94,000 to 133,00), the average funding is a little less than $58,000.

Those are the facts, an underfunded DA delays a victim's day in court, it contributes to an overcrowded jail. It costs all of us.

My campaign is about issues. If you want facts and transparency, I ask you to join me as I seek to become your next Chairman.

Below is a photo of cases waiting to be processed in our DA's office.

02/07/2026

Athens Man Sentenced to Three Life Terms for Drug Trafficking and Weapons Convictions

Jeffery Dewayne Madry, 37, of Athens, has been sentenced to three life terms of imprisonment following his conviction on multiple drug trafficking and firearm-related charges in Limestone County.
One of the life sentences will run consecutive to the others.

Madry was previously found guilty by a Limestone County jury of Trafficking Methamphetamine, Trafficking Co***ne, Certain Persons Prohibited from Carrying a Firearm, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, and Possession of Ma*****na. The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Jake Sauls and Jeffrey Roberts.

District Attorney Brian Jones issued the following statement:

“I am extremely pleased that Judge Matt Huggins handed down such a harsh sentence that reflects the harm this defendant has caused our community.

This sentence ensures that Jeffery Madry will spend the rest of his life paying for the damage he inflicted. While we were prosecuting this defendant, approximately 415,000 Americans died from illicit drug overdoses, a sobering reminder of what is at stake in cases like this. I hope this sentence will serve as a warning to other drug dealers to keep their poison off the streets of Limestone County.

I want to thank Assistant District Attorneys Jeff Roberts and Jake Sauls for their hard work and dedication to this community in securing both this conviction and sentence. I would also like to thank the Limestone County Sheriff’s Office for conducting a thorough investigation that made this prosecution possible.”

Sheriff Joshua McLaughlin also addressed the sentencing:

“The amount of narcotics this defendant pushed into our community was not just illegal, it was lethal. Drug trafficking at this level spreads addiction, violence, and heartbreak throughout our neighborhoods. This sentence demonstrates that Limestone County will hold traffickers fully accountable, and we will continue working tirelessly to protect our families.

Once again, this outcome would not have been possible without the relentless efforts of our Investigators, SWAT Team, ALEA Special Agents, the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences, and the District Attorney’s Office. Their continued commitment and professionalism were instrumental in bringing this case to a successful conclusion.

I also want to thank Judge Matt Huggins for carefully considering the facts of this case and imposing a sentence that reflects the seriousness of these crimes.”

The Limestone County Sheriff’s Office and the Limestone County District Attorney’s Office remain committed to aggressively investigating and prosecuting those who traffic illegal drugs and endanger the safety of our community.

06/12/2025

Good job!

After about 30 minutes of deliberation this afternoon, a Marshall County Jury returned guilty verdicts against Mario Antonio Rocha-Placensia for Traveling to Meet who he believed to be a Child for an Unlawful S*x Act, a Class A Felony, and Electronic Solicitation of who he believed to be a Child, a Class B Felony, after a two day trial. District Attorney Jennifer Bray and Asst. District Attorney Adam Culbert argued the case to the jury.

Judge Chris Abel presided over the trial and set sentencing for August 4th at 9 am. Mr. Rocha-Placensia will be held in jail with no bond until sentencing. Judge Abel will decide his sentence from a range of 10-99 years or life on the Class A conviction and 2-20 years on the Class B conviction.

Mr. Rocha-Placensia was arrested on February 23rd, 2024, in an undercover sting operation done by the Albertville-AL Police Department in conjunction with the Marshall County Sheriff's Office, Marshall County Drug Task Force, and our office, along with several federal law enforcement partner agencies. The operation was carried out with the critical help of the non-profit agency, Covenant Rescue Group.

DA Bray said the following: “I send my sincere thank you to all the agencies who made this operation successful including law enforcement and CRG. It’s only because of their professional and thorough work, that we were able to convict the defendant of his crimes so decisively and quickly. I especially thank CRG for their tireless and continuous effort to equip law enforcement with the tools it needs to take child predators off our streets.

I want to say a special thank you to ADA Culbert, ADA Riley Chandler, our Chief Investigator Josh Gaskin, our Asst. Chief Investigator Jimmy Miller, and Albertville Police Department’s Chief Detective Eric Farmer for their assistance during trial this week.”

She continued, “although an actual child was never involved in this operation, ADA Culbert said it best to the jury when he said ‘think to yourselves what would have happened if a 15-year-old girl had opened that door instead of law enforcement.’”

04/25/2025

It's going down Saturday!!! Hope to see everyone there!!! Tanner Elementary School

01/15/2025

I want to thank our Lt. Governor for his support! Limestone County is at a critical stage where our funding from the state is extremely insufficient and our other funding sources are drying up. In the next legislative session, our office will introduce emergency measures to shore up our funding so that the victims of Limestone County will have their day in court!!

Violent crime was out of control in too many of our cities, streets, and neighborhoods in 2024. That’s why I’ll push for increased funding for our District Attorneys’ Offices and provide them with the resources to put criminals where they belong - behind bars for a long time. Thank you to Trisha Cater and Marshall County DA Jennifer Bray for your leadership.

02/02/2024

Crime nation and the CW have debuted their new Crime Nation TV series. Limestone County & Casey White are amongst the very first episodes. I’m told the first will air February 20th. Here’s a sneak peak!!…

Go behind the headlines of the most shocking crimes. Crime Nation, a new true-crime docuseries, premieres Tuesday, 2/20 on The CW!

12/15/2023

There was a lot of hard work put into this investigation. This yet another example of why we keep warning kids and parents about the dangers lurking online!!

On November 15, 2023, a Limestone County child began to receive text messages from an unknown number. The person explained that they had a crush on the child. The child told the unknown party they had the wrong number and stopped communication. The offender continued to message the child using different numbers. During the weekend of December 1 to December 4, the messages became so graphic and disturbing the child went to a school counselor for help. The Sheriff's Office was notified, and Limestone County Investigator Jesse Gibson and Captain Caleb Durden responded to begin the investigation. The offender continued to solicit, coerce, and lure the child sexually. With little information, the Criminal Investigations Division worked tirelessly to identify this offender. Their efforts uncovered the offender's identity as 40-year-old Daniel Lee Hargrove. Hargrove was previously a Limestone County, AL resident before moving to Georgetown, TN. A warrant was obtained for the arrest of Hargrove for electronic solicitation of a child. On Friday, December 8, 2023, Captain Durden requested the assistance of the Bradley County (TN) Sheriff's Office to locate and arrest Hargrove. Hargrove was arrested in Tennessee on Friday and extradited to Limestone County on Wednesday, December 13. During an interview with Investigator Gibson and Captain Durden, Hargrove confessed to the electronic solicitation of a child.

Hargrove is being held in the Limestone County Jail. No bond is set at this time.

"I'm proud of the work our investigators put into protecting this child in our community, and I'm so proud of this child for bringing this case to the attention of a trusted adult. I also want to thank the Bradley County Sheriff's Office TN and Cleveland TN Police Department for their assistance in this case. I want to remind each parent to actively monitor the content of their children's devices to ensure a predator isn't contacting or grooming them. Please remember, if you see something, say something!" ~ Sheriff Joshua McLaughlin

11/04/2022

Creekside Primary Superheroes can't be beat!! Keep up all the good work and don't forget to help the others in your class!!

11/04/2022

Creekside Elementary Superheroes are in action!! Congratulations to this 9 weeks winners and keep up the good work!!

07/26/2022

04/04/2022