Former Corrections Officer Michael Russell, 43, says he was fired from his job and arrested after he blew the whistle concerning alleged drug dealing at the Monroe County jail. Last month, Russell told police that he had received a tip that his car might be blown up if he went public with those charges.
Russell said that, while working the night shift at the jail in August 1999, he was told by an inmate that he had seen other officers delivering drugs to other inmates.
"I reported that information to my sergeant," Russell said, "including the names of the officers and the inmates allegedly involved. Nothing happened.
"In the days that followed, my source continued to provide more information, implicating more officers and inmates at the jail," Russell said. "He also alleged that he knew about a coverup in another case involving Paul Meyers, an investigator in the State Attorney's Office."
Russell said that, since nothing had happened as a result of his original report, he went to the local office of the Florida Dept. of Law Enforcement (FDLE) on his day off.
"I spoke to Agent Scott Daniels," Russell said. "He said he would look into it and get back to me.
"I also called Paul Meyers and told him about the allegations I had heard," Russell said. "And I named my source.
"Two weeks later, when I had not heard back from anybody, I went to the FBI. I met with Agent Patricia Thompson and told her everything I had heard about alleged drug smuggling at the jail, as well as what I had heard about Meyers.
"I also told her that I had heard that Key West Police officers were planting cocaine to make drug arrests. And I named names," Russell said. "I was not making any accusations based on prsonal knowledge. I was simply reporting what I had heard at the jail.
"I never heard back from the FDLE or the FBI— but a few days later, I was advised by my sergeant that I was under investigation.
"Then I received a call from Meyers, who said he wanted me to come to his office to talk to him and another investigator about the allegations I had heard. I did that, speaking into a recorder.
"Then they turned off the recorder and began to question me about my relationship with my source. Sheriff's Detective Lynn McNeill was in that meeting. They threatened to arrest me unless I agreed to testify that my source had tried to bribe me. I refused because it never happened.
"`But what about the drugs?' I asked. They didn't seem to care about that," Russell said.
A few days later, Russell said, his sergeant told him that Detective McNeill had called with a message: "Tell Russell that he better get a lawyer."
"I was arrested a week later— for allegedly `smuggling contraband into the jail': giving my source a piece of pizza," Russell said.
"After my arrest, I went to Sheriff Rick Roth and told him everything. He said he would look into it and get back to me. That never happened— but I was fired from my job in October 1999.
Russell is scheduled to go on trial in March.