JAY – Drugs and a shotgun were confiscated from separate cars at Jay High School during an investigation into a different incident at the school Friday, police said.

“This was the result of a great collaborative effort on the part of the Jay school system and Police Department,” Jay police Chief Larry White said.

White and officer Richard Caton discovered the drugs and shotgun while investigating an unrelated matter, White said.

The drugs included about 4 ounces of marijuana and 2 ounces of psychedelic mushrooms and were worth an estimated $1,000. They were found in a 17-year-old student’s car, which was parked on school grounds, White said.

The vehicle was impounded and the student was arrested on felony drug trafficking charges.

He was taken to the Police Department, where he was released to his parents pending a juvenile court appearance, White said.

Early Friday evening, another 17-year-old student was arrested after officers searched the 17-year-old’s Chesterville home, according to White.

The teen was charged with Trafficking in schedule Z drugs class C.

Officers confiscated a large amount of drug paraphernalia, a scale and materials conducive to a small indoor cultivation operation. A small amount of marijuana was also seized.

Officer Richard Caton was the primary investigator. Other Jay police officers and a Franklin County Deputy assisted him in the search in Chesterville.

Police are still investigating the matter, he added, and others may be charged.

“We were investigating (the drugs) when we came across information that led us to that shotgun,” White said. Police discovered 18-year-old Dustin Towers of Jay had a 12-gauge shotgun in his car, which was also parked on school property. The gun was concealed in the cab of a pickup truck, White said. Towers was charged with possession of a firearm on school property, a misdemeanor, but was not arrested. He is scheduled to appear in court Dec. 21.

Police do not believe Towers was planning to use the gun on people at the school, White said.

Towers said he had simply forgotten it was in there.

But, White said, even if the gun was not brought to school intentionally, the police and school must take seriously the presence of any weapon found on school grounds.