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Police Chief Accused Of Getting Prescription Drugs From Subordinate

Tuesday, April 29, 2008 – updated: 6:16 pm EDT April 29, 2008

Sources tipped off Channel 9 that the Ocoee police chief asked a co-worker to share prescription drugs and that could involve a criminal offense. The mayor says an investigation is underway.

Eyewitness News got conflicting reports Tuesday from the city's top leaders, but was able to confirm Ocoee Police Chief Ronald Reffett is under investigation and, if the allegations are true, it could involve a felony.

Reffett is now under investigation over an alleged exchange of prescription drugs with a city employee. A source told Eyewitness News the chief asked for and got prescription narcotics more than once from a subordinate. It could involve dispensing medication without a license, which police sources say could be a felony.

The city's human resources director, Jim Carnicella, told Eyewitness News the situation was over and that city employees had been reminded not to exchange prescriptions. Eyewitness News couldn't find any evidence of the reminder and Ocoee Mayor Scott Vandergrift was not happy to hear about any of that.

"If he actually said that, that makes him part of the situation the city manager might be looking into," Vandergrift said. "It's an important thing to have some answers to. Many times police officers are attacked with out reason and many times they're doing things they shouldn't be doing."

Eyewitness News tried to talk to Reffett about the claims but was told he was not in the office Tuesday, even though at one point his car was parked in his space at police headquarters.

This is the second time Reffett has been under investigation in less than a year. The first time he was suspended for two days for waving a Taser at an employee.

The mayor said the investigation should be done in a couple of weeks.

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