DeKalb officer accused of selling pills to undercover agent to end pregnancy
A DeKalb County police officer is facing charges after he sold a prescription drug to an undercover agent who had told him they “needed to terminate” a pregnancy, according to court documents.
Marius Tassy, 43, is now on administrative leave pending the investigation, officials said. He faces a felony charge of unlawful practice of pharmacy and a misdemeanor charge of sale of dangerous drugs.
Online records show he was booked into the DeKalb jail Tuesday and released Thursday morning. Tassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday, and court documents do not list an attorney on file.
“The authority we are entrusted with as law enforcement officers comes with an expectation of integrity, honesty, and accountability. When an officer violates that trust, it undermines the credibility of our entire profession,” DeKalb police Chief Gregory Padrick said in a news release.
DeKalb police requested the GBI’s assistance with the investigation into the officer, the state agency confirmed with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
It’s not clear what launched the probe, and DeKalb police, who remain the lead investigative agency, declined to answer questions about the alleged incident beyond a written statement announcing the officer’s arrest.
According to arrest affidavits, an undercover GBI agent went to DeKalb on Oct. 29 to purchase “a prescription drug” from Tassy. Before that meetup, the affidavits said the undercover agent had communicated with Tassy about the pregnancy and need to terminate it. The agent then allegedly arranged to purchase pills from Tassy for $500.
On the afternoon of Oct. 29, officials said Tassy arrived at an unspecified DeKalb meeting location, and the undercover agent approached his vehicle. Tassy is accused of selling three Cytotec 200 mcg tablets and providing instructions on how to take the pills, according to the affidavits.
Cytotec is a brand name for misoprostol, used to reduce the risk of stomach ulcers tied to nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, such as ibuprofen. According to Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, misoprostol can be used by itself to terminate a pregnancy but is less effective and less safe than when paired with mifepristone, the regimen approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration.
In Georgia, where most abortions are banned once cardiac activity is detected around six weeks, women seeking to terminate a pregnancy need a prescription to obtain abortion pills.
According to Peace Officer Standards and Training Council records, Tassy’s first and only Georgia job in law enforcement is with DeKalb police. He was hired there on May 1, 2023.
