A community service officer arrested Thursday by the Grants Pass Department of Public Safety is accused of tipping off the subject of a search warrant two days earlier in what appears to be a drug case.

Heather Nicole Corthell, 33, Grants Pass, was charged Friday by the Josephine County District Attorney’s Office with hindering prosecution, a felony.

Corthell made a phone call on Tuesday with the aid of her boyfriend and warned a person that law enforcement was going to be “raiding” his home, according to the probable cause affidavit from the arrest.

“The morning of the search warrant, there was little to no evidence obtained and it was evident because the target/suspect had gotten rid of the items,” according to the record.

Sgt. Doni Hamilton, commander of the Rogue Area Drug Enforcement team, made the arrest Thursday.

Corthell, who has worked as a community service officer for five months, was also charged with conspiracy to tamper with physical evidence and interfering with law enforcement, both misdemeanors.

The first charge, hindering prosecution, is a Class C felony. The other two charges are misdemeanors.

Because the investigation involved both city police and the Josephine County Sheriff’s Office, sheriff’s detectives from Douglas County were requested to lead the investigation.

The person Corthell is accused of tipping off is not named in the probable cause affidavit but is named in charging documents in Corthell’s case. He is not in custody and has not been charged with anything.

Records in the case do not indicate how detectives figured out the subject of the raid had been tipped off or what evidence they are alleging they have on Corthell.

She spent about 90 minutes in custody at the county jail Thursday before being released after posting bail of $2,500. Arraignment in the case is set for Monday. Two Medford TV stations have already applied for court coverage.

Community service officers deal with animal problems, graffiti, littering, parking complaints, traffic crashes, transient camps and other issues, and are vital to logistics in special events in town such as Boatnik, Back to the Fifties and others.

They can also assist in investigations and be called on to secure crime scenes, according to the city website.

The Department of Public Safety has three full-time and two part-time CSOs.

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Reach reporter Jeff Duewel at 541-474-3720 or jduewel@thedailycourier.com