SWAT TEAM CALLED TO ARREST DEPUTY

Taken into Custody After a Standoff, the Jail Worker Was One of Two
Pasco Deputies Held on Federal Charges Sunday

WESLEY CHAPEL - Two Pasco County sheriff's deputies were arrested on
federal drug charges Sunday, one after a standoff at his house with
SWAT members, the other as he reported for work.

Cpl. Rodney Philon, a jail deputy, was arrested after emerging from
his home just before noon. Cpl. Don Riggans, a patrol deputy, was
called into work and arrested about 6:30 a.m.

Riggans and Philon are both being held without bail at Orient Road
Jail in Hillsborough County.

Philon, 38, is charged with conspiracy to traffic in hydrocodone, jail
records show. Riggans, 34, is charged with conspiracy to possess with
intent to distribute hydrocodone, according to the U.S. Attorney's
Office in Tampa.

In an interview Sunday, Pasco Sheriff Bob White said the charges
against Philon involved steroids.

Both were fired as soon as they were arrested by the federal Drug
Enforcement Administration.

Philon was hired in December 1998 and Riggans in April 1999. Philon
worked in booking at the Land O' Lakes Jail; Riggans worked in booking
for six years before moving to patrol duty.

The arrests ended a three-week investigation that involved the DEA,
Pasco County Sheriff's Office and Tampa police, White said.

"We're not going to tolerate corruption in our ranks. We will root it
out where we find it," White said outside the gates of Wesley Pointe,
shortly after Philon's arrest.

Philon refused to leave his home at 28639 Seashell Court when DEA
agents knocked about 6 a.m. Sunday morning. Philon's wife and daughter
also were in the house.

That prompted a morning-long standoff during which law enforcement
officials rousted Philon's neighbors from their homes and sealed the
gated community off State Road 54, just east of Interstate 75.

As news helicopters circled overhead, SWAT officers spoke by phone
with Philon, trying to persuade him to surrender peacefully. About
11:50 a.m., Philon left his house without incident and was taken away
in handcuffs, a black shirt covering his head and shoulders.

Deputies knew Philon had guns. Even if he had not been a deputy, SWAT
would have been called because the situation involved an armed person
barricaded inside a home, sheriff's spokesman Doug Tobin said.

"There's a high potential for suicide or murder-suicide," Tobin
said.

Even so, White said he did not think Philon's family was in
danger.

"He was weighing his options and stalling," White said.

The DEA also arrested two men tied to a Tampa pharmacy the agency had
targeted in November 2006.

Kevin Massimino, 32, of 11234 Blacksmith St. in Tampa, and Robert
Caddick, 51, of 1007 Egans Creek Court in Oviedo, were arrested on
federal charges of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute
hydrocodone, an opiate nearly equivalent to morphine for pain relief.
They are being held without bail at the Orient Road Jail.

The U.S. Attorney's Office said Riggans conspired with Massimino and
Caddick to distribute hydrocodone. In one case, Riggans received
$9,000 in cash from Massimino for his assistance, authorities said.

All three are scheduled to make their first court appearance
today.

Public records show Caddick has been a registered agent for two
companies - Medipharm-RX in Tampa and Medcenter in Lakeland - that
were searched by DEA agents in November 2006.

At the time, a DEA spokeswoman said the companies' certificates of
registration were being suspended, meaning they could not buy or sell
controlled substances.

Agents removed more than 600,000 pills from Medipharm, most of which
were hydrocodone and alprazolam.

Massimino listed Medipharm as his employer after a June arrest on
charges of driving under the influence and domestic battery, jail
records show.