By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

COLUMBIANA – A 42-year-old Irondale man is being held in the Shelby County Jail on bonds totaling $1.5 million after he allegedly attempted to traffic marijuana in Shelby County and then fled to Colorado.

U.S. Marshals recently arrested Dewey Michael Campbell, who lists an address on Hamrick Drive in Irondale, in Colorado after the Shelby County Drug Enforcement Task Force issued an arrest warrant for the suspect with national extradition.

After Marshals apprehended Campbell, he was transported to the Shelby County Jail on July 16 and charged him with one felony count of conspiracy to traffic marijuana.

Campbell’s arrest came in connection with a January drug string in Alabaster, during which his warrant claimed he worked with fellow suspect Jameel Shakir Gray, who lists an address on Village Lane in Pelham, in an attempt to distribute more than 4 pounds of marijuana.

During the January drug bust, the Task Force arrested Jameel Gray and his 35-year-old wife April Gray, along with 28-year-old Eboni Camille Hale of Alabaster and 29-year-old Mark Alexander Lewis of Hoover.

Task Force Commander Lt. Clay Hammac said the department’s investigation into the drug distribution network led Task Force members to Campbell’s Irondale residence, where they allegedly discovered 1,942 grams of marijuana in January.

Hammac said Campbell had fled the state, leading to the issuance of nationwide extradition on the suspect.

“During our investigation, we discovered a large and far-reaching criminal enterprise,” Hammac said during a July 18 interview. “This case illustrates a change in our investigative tactics. We are taking a broad and systematic approach in the way we investigate these cases.

“We are no longer staying just in Shelby County,” Hammac said, noting there may be more arrests in the case in the future. “If you sell drugs in Shelby County, we are going to come to where you live. We want to make it as uncomfortable as possible for drug dealers in Shelby County.”

Conspiracy to traffic marijuana is a Class A felony, according to Alabama law. If convicted, Campbell could face up to life in prison.