A Florida law enforcement officer allegedly smuggled marijuana brownies into a jail where he worked and sold them to inmates, who paid him using a money-transfer app.
Hillsborough County Detention Deputy Terry Bradford, Jr. is facing charges of introducing contraband into a detention facility and possession of a controlled substance, WTVT-TV reported.
Police said a source tipped them off that Bradford was getting paid by inmates via CashApp for the cannabis-laced brownies. He was then caught bringing over a pound of the brownies into the Falkenberg Road Jail, Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said Thursday.
“He pledged to uphold all that is good and just. His greed got the best of him,” Chronister told reporters at a Thursday news conference. “Think about the danger this creates. It can lead to gambling. It can lead to violence.”
Inmates wait for their video arraignments in a jail.
( AP Photo/The Saginaw News/MLive.com, Jeff Schrier)
Investigators are still working to determine the full size and scope of the scheme and to determine if any other employees were involved, Chronister said. But officials believe Bradford brought in marijuana brownies at least twice and earned “a few thousand” dollars.
While there are strict protocols to enter the jail, detention deputies working 12-hour shifts are allowed to bring in their own food and Bradford is believed to have taken advantage of that policy.
Faulkenberg Jail in Hillsborough County, Florida.
(Google Maps)
Chronister said that Bradford previously worked at a Florida Department of Corrections facility in Zephryhills, Florida.
“Do I think this is his first rodeo?” Chronister said. “No. I don’t.”
A jar containing a strain of marijuana nicknamed “Killer D” is seen at a medical marijuana facility.
Bradford is now on administrative leave without pay pending an internal investigation, the sheriff’s office said in a press release.
