HARDEE COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) – A former Hardee County Sheriff’s Office patrol sergeant has been arrested for purchasing Oxycodone without a prescription.

According to the Hardee County Sheriff’s Office Drug Task Force, former Sergeant Mark McCoy was a K-9 handler in the patrol division and had been a sheriff’s office employee for 14 years before abruptly resigning his position on March 31, 2020 during an internal affairs investigation.

Deputies say the individual who sold McCoy the Oxycodone while he was on and off duty, and that McCoy has shown up in his marked patrol unit before to purchase the pills.

On May 22 the seller sold pills to McCoy and a traffic stop was done soon after on McCoy’s vehicle. McCoy did not have a legal prescription for the pills and claimed they were heartburn medication.

McCoy was arrested, booked into the Hardee County Jail and charged with drug equipment possession/use, purchase schedule I or II of opium or derivative, possession of harmful new legend without a Prescription, use of 2-way communication device, and possession of Oxycodone.