by Phillip Smith
A Florida police chief gets
caught with online pills, a North Carolina jail guard gets caught peddling
pills, a former Pennsylvania cop heads to the slammer for cooking meth, and a
Seattle-area former deputy gets even more prison time for lying during
sentencing. Let's get to it:
In Atlantic Beach, Florida, the
former police chief was arrested Tuesday on numerous drug charges just a week
after he resigned in the middle of a state investigation. Former Chief Michael
Classey went down after federal Homeland Security agents told the Florida
Department of Law Enforcement they had intercepted a package of drugs from
India addressed to Classey. He was arrested when he went to pick up the
package, and a subsequent police search of his home turned up more drugs. He is
now charged with 18 counts of possession of a controlled substance without a
prescription, one count of trafficking in a controlled substance, one count of
tampering with or fabricating physical evidence and one count of possession of
drug paraphernalia.
In Charlotte, North Carolina, a
York County jail guard was arrested last Friday after he was seen selling
prescription drugs in a gas station parking lot. Guard John Strait allegedly
admitted he stole Xanax pills from family members. He is charged with
distribution of a controlled substance and is now out on bail. And looking for
a new job.
In Brookville, Pennsylvania, a
former Brookville police officer was sentenced last Thursday to five years in
state prison for running a meth lab. April Ann Novak was convicted of criminal
conspiracy to manufacture a controlled substance and manufacturing
methamphetamine.
In Seattle, a former King
County sheriff's deputy was sentenced Tuesday to more prison time after he was
found to have lied during his sentencing hearing. Darion Holiwell had been
convicted in August of pimping his estranged wife, stealing ammunition from the
department, and dealing drugs and was sentenced to a year in prison. During his
original sentencing hearing, Holliwell's lawyer told the court the ex-deputy
was broke, but investigators found that he had just cashed in a $180,000
retirement package. That earned him an additional five months in the clink.