Jail guard arrested in undercover drug bust

BOURNE — A Barnstable County correctional officer was arrested after buying $400 worth of OxyContin from an undercover police officer Friday, law enforcement officials said.

Ryan Carroll, 31, has been suspended without pay following a two-week investigation by the Cape Cod Drug Task Force that resulted in his arrest at 1 p.m. in the parking lot of the McDonald's restaurant on MacArthur Boulevard, Barnstable County Sheriff James Cummings said.

Carroll was not wearing his uniform at the time, Cummings said.

Carroll has been employed as an officer at the Barnstable County Correctional Facility for eight years and has had a good work record, Cummings said. An investigation of his conduct at the jail found no evidence that he was supplying drugs to inmates, he said."That was a concern for us," the sheriff said.

Carroll, a married father of two, came under suspicion when an informant for the Cape Cod Drug Task Force told an officer that the prison guard was looking to purchase the highly addictive opiate-based painkiller OxyContin. The sheriff helped the drug task force investigate Carroll.

"We were working with the Cape Cod Drug Task Force, which did an excellent job," Cummings said.

Carroll was arraigned Friday in Falmouth District Court for possession of OxyContin. He purchased 20 pills for $400 from an undercover officer, according to Cummings.

Carroll, whose address is listed in Plymouth according to Internet records, has been placed on unpaid leave until a termination hearing can be scheduled. The hearing could be held as soon as this week, the sheriff said.

"It shows that no one is immune from OxyContin," Cummings said. "It's a real problem here. ... He has two young children and was in the process of buying a house. This was not good timing for him."

Carroll's arrest tarnishes the work of the 366 employees of the sheriff's department, most of whom do an excellent job, the sheriff said.

The arrest also brings back memories of 2006, when five sheriff's department employees were arrested in a single year. Beginning in January and progressing all through 2006, five officers were charged with various crimes, including shoplifting, domestic assault, assault and battery on a police officer, weapons charges, and drunken driving.

The spree led Cummings to employ a personnel consultant, who made some changes in the hiring process but nothing radical, Cummings said. "He recommended we do a psychological screening of all our employee, but it would be too cost prohibitive," the sheriff said.

Carroll's drug bust is the first arrest of a sheriff department employee since the 2006 incidents, Cummings said. And it's the first arrest of a sheriff's employee for drugs during Cummings' tenure, he added.