By Scott Butler
The Florida Times-Union
JACKSONVILLE — An officer and major with the Florida State Prison in Raiford have been arrested in a wide-scale illegal pain pill distribution crackdown that also resulted in several suspensions or terminations by the Department of Corrections, according to the Bradford County Sheriff’s Office.
About 81 people have been identified that were buying and/or selling Oxycodone in the investigation dubbed with Operation Checkered Flag, the Sheriff’s Office said.
It began in January 2015 with tips about large amounts of prescription pain medication being supplied in Bradfor. The focus was Dylan Oral Hilliard, a 25-year-old corrections officer, the Sheriff’s Office said. Large amounts of Oxycodone were being purchased from people with legitimate prescriptions and then sold for profit to support Hilliard’s auto-racing hobby.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement assisted with an undercover transactions, and Hilliard was arrested June 11 after a purchase of Oxycodone large enough to be deemed “trafficking,” the Sheriff’s Office said. Hilliard resigned after his arrest.
Then Wednesday morning prison Maj. Charles Gregory “Chicken Hawk” Combs was arrested as taking part in the Oxycodone distribution, the Sheriff’s Office said. He was immediately terminated and booked into on $450,000 bail.
Surveillance work indicated that illegal prescription medication were being sold from Hilliard’s residence as well as the prison, the Sheriff’s Office said.
The Florida Department of Corrections also started and is continuing an investigation. Numerous employees have been suspended from active duty and are still being investigated to determine their involvement with this case, the Sheriff’s Office said.
“The cooperation we received from Secretary Julie Jones, Warden John Palmer, FDLE and the Office of the Inspector General has been phenomenal,” Sheriff Gordon Smith said. “Their desire to ferret out those people who do not maintain the highest of professional standards is in lockstep with the expectations here at the Bradford County Sheriff’s Office.”