By Austin L. Miller
Ocala Star-Banner
OCALA, Fla. — Two state corrections officers arrested within days of each other in separate incidents are now unemployed.
Jessie Tyree, arrested Feb. 21 at an apartment complex for possession of cocaine, possession of Ecstasy and possession of drug paraphernalia, was terminated on Feb. 25.
Tyree, 28, an Ocala resident, worked at Marion Correctional Institution for 6� years.
On the day Tyree was fired, Jorge Luis Rice, a resident of Silver Springs, resigned from Columbia Correctional Institution after agreeing to turn himself over to authorities for allegedly stealing merchandise from Walmart on three separate occasions and returning the items for refunds.
During two of the thefts, officials said Rice wore his correctional officer uniform.
Notified that he will be charged with three counts of retail theft, Luis, 25, turned himself in to a bail bonds company, where he was picked up by a law enforcement official who transported him to the Marion County Jail.
Rice had been on the job at Columbia Correctional since June 2012.
Both men are free on bond, and they were arrested by Ocala police officers.
In the case of Tyree, officers were patrolling at Spring Manor Apartments at 2833 NE Seventh St., Ocala, when they smelled burnt marijuana coming from an open window.
They later saw Tyree and a woman walking from a hallway and smelled a strong odor of marijuana on them. The two said they had just left the apartment from which the officers had smelled burnt marijuana, according to the report.
The woman had nothing in her possession when searched by the officers. Tyree had MDMA, commonly called Ecstasy, cocaine and drug paraphernalia in his possession, officials said. He told the officers he has been using drugs for “just a little while,” the report notes.
A Walmart official told Officer Kyle Drawdy that a man had stolen items from the store at 4980 E. State Road 40 three times -- on Jan. 7, Jan. 8 and Feb. 19 -- and each time returned the merchandise to receive a refund for them. The items were a Diagnostic Inspection camera, which was stolen twice, valued at $79.77, and an auto part accessory worth $59.95.
The officer noted in his report that Rice was wearing his uniform, a beige shirt with a brown collar and a badge on the left side of his chest, brown pants, black belt and black shoes/boots, on Jan. 8 and Feb. 19.
Able to identify his clothing as someone working for Columbia Correctional Institution, Drawdy ID’d Rice through surveillance video.
The officer contacted the Columbia warden on Feb. 25, and Rice turned himself in the next day.