JOHNSON COUNTY, ARKANSAS, Ark. — A Johnson County detention deputy has been accused of distributing hydrocodone to a fellow detention deputy.
According to a probable cause affidavit filed in Johnson County, an investigator was asked by Johnson County Sheriff Tom Hughes for help reviewing a video from the jail's camera recording system on April 4.
Hughes then asked the investigator and a narcotics officer to look into the passing of two pills between two detention center deputies, court documents said.
The affidavit says that one of the deputies turned in statements that prompted an interview with detention deputy Lydia Ewing.
"Both the statements and the camera system show Ewing giving [the detention deputy] something in the pod," the affidavit said.
Ewing was interviewed and admitted to giving the detention deputy two pills. She said she thought she was giving him Tylenol for his back pain but said she may have given him hydrocodone by accident, which she stored in a pill container with a Tylenol label, according to court documents.
"The camera footage clearly shows Ewing getting a piece of gum then taking the wrapper out of sight of the camera in the pod and coming back into camera footage giving [the detention deputy] the wrapper," the affidavit said. Two white pills were taken into evidence and will be sent to the Arkansas State Crime Lab.
A warrant for Ewing's arrest was issued on June 20, according to court filings.
A criminal information sheet filed on June 20 says that Ewing faces a charge of possession of a controlled substance, a Class D felony that, if found guilty, could result in zero to six years in the Arkansas Department of Corrections and/or up to a $10,000 fine.
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