By Zach Potter
The Sanford Herald
SANFORD — One jail officer with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office was fired and another was arrested Tuesday morning for allegedly providing inmates with a cell phone, according to the sheriff’s office.
Robert Ellis Fleming, 35, of 122 Big Man Drive, Sanford, was charged with providing an inmate with a cell phone and tools to conceal contraband, aiding and abetting an inmate in possessing a cell phone and tools to conceal contraband and receiving a bribe.
According to LCSO Capt. Jeff Johnson, Fleming was hired on Feb. 1.
The sheriff’s office did not release the name of the officer who was fired.
The charges stem from an investigation that began on April 3 after four inmates were charged with possession of a cell phone.
“Several inmates were using it or sharing it,” Johnson said Tuesday of the phone. “They also had batteries they were powering it up with. That just started the investigation, and that led us to today.”
Johnson had an idea of what the phone was being used for, but that he could not comment on it as the case remains under investigation.
“It is an ongoing investigation that may lead to other arrests and other charges in regards to what they were doing with the phone,” he said. “But there’s not a whole lot we can say about that.”
Lee County Sheriff Tracy Carter expressed his disappointment regarding the incident but said the community and his staff need to know that law enforcement officers are held accountable for their actions.
“I want the community and my employees to see that we won’t tolerate this kind of stuff happening,” Carter said. “I hate that this happened. I don’t enjoy it at all. But if we’ve got problems in our house, we want to clean it up and send that message that we’re not going to tolerate it.”
Fleming was held at the Lee County Jail under a $50,000 bond.