JUSTIN: Former Fairfax County sheriff's deputy pleads guilty to smuggling drugs into prison

A former Fairfax County Sheriff's Office (FCSO) deputy has pleaded guilty to accepting bribes and smuggling contraband, including drugs, into the county jail.

Robert Theodore Sanford Jr., 37, brought cocaine, fentanyl and the opioid addiction treatment Suboxone to an inmate at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center from December 2022 to May 2023, according to the Office of the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Prosecutors say Sanford acquired the drugs from the inmate's “associates,” who then sold them to other inmates. He also smuggled in a cell phone and helped conceal the contraband by providing latex gloves and glue and informing the inmate of the upcoming searches.

Extract from the press release:

Sanford provided the inmate with information such as advance warning of cell searches conducted by deputies, which cell blocks deputies were going to during those searches, whether deputies would conduct strip searches, and where dogs Drug sniffers were used. Sanford also provided the inmate with information about other inmates, including inmates who could provide information to law enforcement, which helped Sanford's co-conspirator intimidate potential witnesses.

In addition to bringing drugs into the prison, Sanford distributed them to women who lived and engaged in sex work in an apartment he rented, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

The scheme was discovered by other deputies who found some of the contraband during a strip search of the inmate working with Sanford on May 4, 2023, according to prosecutors. Items recovered included 92 counterfeit oxycodone pills, 174 Suboxone strips, more than three grams of cocaine, the cell phone and charging equipment.

According to the press release, Sanford learned of the seizure the next day and deleted his name and email address from a CashApp account he used to accept bribes.

“He also stopped sending messages and making calls to the inmate and other conspirators and deleted associated messages,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. “Within two weeks of FCSO’s discovery of the contraband, Sanford began the process of resigning from his position.”

According to prosecutors, he told the sheriff's office he had to resign because of “child custody issues.”

The FCSO did not immediately return a request for comment.

Sanford is scheduled to be sentenced in federal court on September 18. He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.