JSO Corrections Officer faces drug charges

Another Jacksonville Sheriff's Office corrections officer has had the handcuffs turned on him.

There have been three cases this year alone.

Brandon Wooley was a corrections officer for the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office up until Nov. 4. JSO said he resigned that day for personal reasons. That same day, he was arrested in Nassau County on drug changes.

"We did an undercover buy from him, but at the time, we didn't know it was a JSO employee. It was just another drug buy," said Nassau County Sheriff's Department Director Roy Henderson.

According to the arrest report, an informant paid officer Wooley $100 in exchange for 10 oxycodone pills.

"It's disappointing in our line of work, in our profession, it's disappointing that someone like that slips through the cracks like that," he said.

Wooley is the third JSO corrections officer arrested this year. Former corrections officer Leon Brooks Sr. faces child pornography charges, and Harold Walbey III was indicted by prosecutors for charges of tax fraud.

"Police officers are exposed to things in their day-to-day lives that they may be affected unusually by. Sometimes that causes a lot of stress in their lives," said attorney Dale Carson.

He said more needs to be done to turn the trend around.

Action News asked JSO what procedures are in place. Public information officer Shannon Hartley said JSO uses very stringent standards for hiring,and drug testing is only a portion of that.

He also said employees can report any behavior within the department,and he said many of the arrests of JSO officers came to light that way.

Beyond the three corrections officers, there have been at least five other JSO officers arrested this year for charges spanning from DUI to grand theft to secretly recording conversations.

Wooley was also charged with cultivation of marijuana after officers found a plant at his home, the Nassau County Sheriff's Office said