The delay in arresting Sherry Johnston–mother of 18 year-old Levi Johnston who sired Gov. Palin’s first grandson Tripp–seems to smack of favoritism, charges a drug investigator with the Alaska State Troopers.

Sherry Johnston was arrested December 18 on charges of selling Oxycontin to an informant twice in October, during a crucial time in the presidential election. A third sale was made November 26. The case began in mid-September when officers intercepted a package of Oxycontin. The recipients were arrested and recruited to work as informants.

Kyle Young–a drug investigator with the Alaska State Troopers who was not directly involved in the case–sent out an email out last week to last week to all members  the union representing troopers and other law enforcement officers around the state. In the email, Young states that the investigation:

was not allowed to progress in a normal fashion, the search warrant service WAS delayed because of the pending election and the Mat Su Drug Unit and the case officer were not the ones calling the shots

The Anchorage Daily News reports:

Young wrote that after it became clear who Johnston is, "this case became anything but normal."

Young declined to comment further, but John Cyr, executive director of the union, said it’s clear to him that the investigation was handled differently because Johnston’s connections to then-GOP vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin:

This really does smack of political favoritism. And if that be the case, it’s another example of the Palin administration’s direct influence on the public safety unit.

But Alaska Public Safety Commissioner Joe Masters and troopers director Col. Audie Holloway say it ain’t so Joe, with Holloway explaining that:

The timing of the investigation was based on "when we could get Johnston to sell to us. We were entirely at her schedule."

 Meanwhile Masters says:

We did everything we possibly could to ensure that the investigation progressed in a normal fashion as other investigations similar to this would proceed.

Except Masters did call Palin’s chief of staff Mike Nizich and gave him a heads-up to be aware that a media frenzy was coming. Because it’s really normal to call extended family members and alert them about a pending arrest.

On October 1, Gram Johnston sent a text message to the informant saying the drug deal would have to wait:

Hey, my phones are tapped and reporters and god knows who else is always following me and the family so no privacy. I will let u no when I can go for cof.

That text message resulted in the first sale. The second buy was was made the following day with the informant wearing a hidden camera and a microphone.

Now why that isn’t enough evidence to file for a warrant and arrest the drug dealer as soon as possible is beyond me. But officers cautiously waited until after a third sale November 26 and then filed a warrant December 2. On December 18 The warrant was served and the arrest made– more than two weeks later.

While this might not be favoritism, it definitely seems like everyone was being very, very cautious…