TWO JEFF DEPUTIES ARE ARRESTED, FIRED

Both Are Booked With Dealing Pills

Two Jefferson Parish sheriff's deputies have been fired after being
arrested on charges of malfeasance in office and prescription drug
distribution, authorities said.

Richard Wong, 48, and Floyd Carver, 49, were taken into custody Thursday,
Sheriff's Office spokesman Col. John Fortunato said Friday.

The deputies were booked with malfeasance and distributing hydrocodone, the
generic version of the powerful pain killer Vicodin. Wong also was booked
with 18 counts of payroll fraud, according to an arrest report.

The Sheriff's Office did not release any other details about the case.

Carver, a 12-year veteran of the Sheriff's Office, had been assigned to the
4th District. Wong, also a deputy in the 4th District, served with the
department for four years, officials said.

The Sheriff's Office terminated Wong on May 21 and Carver on Friday,
Fortunato said.

Carver's wife, Leah, said Friday her husband is innocent.

"These charges are completely false," she said.

Both men were being held Friday afternoon at the Jefferson Parish
Correctional Center in Gretna, Wong on a $305,000 bond, Carver on a $40,000
bond, Fortunato said. But Sheriff Harry Lee asked the court to release the
deputies on their own recognizance out of concern for their safety inside
the correctional center, he said. Wong was released Friday but Carver was
still in custody.

Wong was booked with 25 counts of hydrocodone distribution, 18 counts of
payroll fraud, two counts of malfeasance in office, two counts of
conspiracy to possess drugs and two counts of conspiracy to distribute
drugs, the report said.

Carver was booked with one count of malfeasance in office, one count of
hydrocodone possession, three counts of hydrocodone distribution, two
counts of conspiracy to possess drugs and two counts of conspiracy to
distribute drugs, the report said.