TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

SWAT Team Called To Arrest Deputy

News Channel 8 photo by DAVID KRAUT

Two Pasco County sheriff's deputies were arrested Sunday on federal drug charges

ADVERTISEMENT

BY NEIL JOHNSON and KEVIN WIATROWSKI of the Tampa Tribune

Published: March 16, 2008

Updated: 03/16/2008 04:45 pm

WESLEY CHAPEL - WESLEY CHAPEL - Two Pasco County sheriff's deputies were arrested on federal drug charges Sunday, one after a standoff at his house with SWAT members, the other as he reported for work.

Cpl. Rodney Philon, a jail deputy, was arrested after emerging from his home just before noon. Cpl. Don Riggans, a patrol deputy, was called into work and arrested about 6:30 a.m.

Riggans and Philon are both being held without bail at Orient Road Jail in Hillsborough County.

Philon, 38, is charged with conspiracy to traffic in hydrocodone, jail records show. Riggans, 34, is charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute hydrocodone, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Tampa.

In an interview Sunday, Pasco Sheriff Bob White said the charges against Philon involved steroids.

Both were fired as soon as they were arrested by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.

Philon was hired in December 1998 and Riggans in April 1999. Philon worked in booking at the Land O' Lakes Jail; Riggans worked in booking for six years before moving to patrol duty.

The arrests ended a three-week investigation that involved the DEA, Pasco County Sheriff's Office and Tampa police, White said.

"We're not going to tolerate corruption in our ranks. We will root it out where we find it," White said outside the gates of Wesley Pointe, shortly after Philon's arrest.

Philon refused to leave his home at 28639 Seashell Court when DEA agents knocked about 6 a.m. Sunday morning. Philon's wife and daughter also were in the house.

That prompted a morning-long standoff during which law enforcement officials rousted Philon's neighbors from their homes and sealed the gated community off State Road 54, just east of Interstate 75.

As news helicopters circled overhead, SWAT officers spoke by phone with Philon, trying to persuade him to surrender peacefully. About 11:50 a.m., Philon left his house without incident and was taken away in handcuffs, a black shirt covering his head and shoulders.

Deputies knew Philon had guns. Even if he had not been a deputy, SWAT would have been called because the situation involved an armed person barricaded inside a home, sheriff's spokesman Doug Tobin said.

"There's a high potential for suicide or murder-suicide," Tobin said.

Even so, White said he did not think Philon's family was in danger.

"He was weighing his options and stalling," White said.

The DEA also arrested two men tied to a Tampa pharmacy the agency had targeted in November 2006.

Kevin Massimino, 32, of 11234 Blacksmith St. in Tampa, and Robert Caddick, 51, of 1007 Egans Creek Court in Oviedo, were arrested on federal charges of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute hydrocodone, an opiate nearly equivalent to morphine for pain relief. They are being held without bail at the Orient Road Jail.

The U.S. Attorney's Office said Riggans conspired with Massimino and Caddick to distribute hydrocodone. In one case, Riggans received $9,000 in cash from Massimino for his assistance, authorities said.

All three are scheduled to make their first court appearance today.

Public records show Caddick has been a registered agent for two companies - Medipharm-RX in Tampa and Medcenter in Lakeland - that were searched by DEA agents in November 2006.

At the time, a DEA spokeswoman said the companies' certificates of registration were being suspended, meaning they could not buy or sell controlled substances.

Agents removed more than 600,000 pills from Medipharm, most of which were hydrocodone and alprazolam.

Massimino listed Medipharm as his employer after a June arrest on charges of driving under the influence and domestic battery, jail records show.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT