GREENWOOD : Deputy quits over drug use; officer under investigation
Posted on Saturday, August 16, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/234381/
GREENWOOD — A Sebastian County sheriff ’s deputy resigned and a Greenwood police officer was suspended after details came to light that they were at a party where marijuana was used, officials said Friday.
Deputy Lee Ann Garcia, who has been a jailer at the Sebastian County Detention Center for four years, resigned Thursday just before a disciplinary hearing was to convene to determine her punishment, Chief Deputy Tommy Young said Friday.
He said an internal investigation determined she was guilty of conduct unbecoming an officer.
He said Garcia acknowledged earlier this month that she had been to a party in June during which she smoked marijuana. Young said she was suspended at that time, pending the internal investigation.
Young said she also implicated Greenwood police officer Alex Moya as being at that party.
Greenwood Police Chief Keith Jackson said he suspended Moya on Friday for alleged department policy violations and possible criminal violations. His office is conducting an internal investigation on him and a criminal investigation on him and Garcia.
Moya is a former Sebastian County jailer who went to work for the Greenwood Police Department in June 2007, Jackson said, but has been on leave since January to serve in Iraq, his second deployment overseas. Moya is a sergeant with the 206 th Field Artillery Regiment with headquarters in Russellville, Jackson said.
Jackson said Moya was home on an 18-day leave in June when he attended the party.
He said he was unsure when the investigation would be completed, because he hasn’t heard Moya’s side of the story and because he wasn’t expecting Moya to return home from overseas until late this year.
Jackson said that he did not believe the Army National Guard was investigating Moya since he was on leave when the incident under investigation occurred.