FORMER DEPUTY ARRESTED IN THEFT

Hours after he resigned from the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office
on Friday, former Deputy Christopher Madiedo signed out several
envelopes of drugs from the sheriff's evidence room, telling clerks
he needed them for court.

He signed out more envelopes Saturday. Madiedo, still dressed in a
sheriff's utility uniform, was arrested about two hours later as he
returned the six envelopes - but not the drugs, police said.

In place of marijuana, there were twigs and leaves. Instead of crack
cocaine, there was wax. And in place of powder cocaine was powdered
soap, said sheriff's spokesman Lt. Rod Reder.

"He returned all the envelopes as if nothing was wrong, but had
replaced all the artifacts in there," Reder said. "All these drugs
are missing. Where they are, we don't know."

Deputies did not know the quantity of drugs missing, but Reder said
it was a small amount.

The arrest capped Madiedo's tumultuous five-year career at the
sheriff's office, which included shooting an unarmed man in the back,
being shot while on patrol, wrecking a patrol car after a chase and
being suspended after a south Tampa bar fight.

Madiedo turned in his letter of resignation Friday morning, writing,
"The time has come for me to pursue other avenues." It was approved
by Sheriff Cal Henderson early Friday afternoon.

On Saturday, when Madiedo returned to the sheriff's evidence room at
the Falkenburg Road office, deputies found 12 small baggies of
marijuana in the sheriff's jumpsuit he was wearing, Reder said. In
the marked patrol car Madiedo drove to the office, deputies found a
crack pipe and a loaded .45-caliber semi-automatic handgun, police
said.

"As far as we're concerned, when he came back Friday night, he was a
civilian. He shouldn't have been driving a patrol car. He shouldn't
have been dressed in a utility uniform," Reder said.

The former deputy offered no explanation as he was arrested and taken
to jail, Reder said. Madiedo's wife did not want to comment Sunday.

Madiedo, 26, was charged with six counts of tampering with evidence,
possession of marijuana with intent to sell, possession of drug
paraphernalia, possession of cocaine, two counts of impersonating a
police officer and possession of a gun while committing a felony. He
was released about 2:30 p.m. Sunday after his bond was reduced from
$21,000 to $3,000.

When Madiedo checked out the drugs Friday evening, sheriff's
computers still showed him as a deputy, Reder said.

"There was no way for the property technician to know that he had
turned in a resignation on Friday. Things just don't happen that
quick," he said.

When Madiedo returned to the room about 7 p.m. Saturday, a technician
noticed he was checking out evidence from cases that weren't his,
Reder said. A supervisor then called Madiedo and asked him to return
the evidence.

"We are going to take a hard look at our policies and procedures,"
Reder said, noting that it is not unusual for deputies to sign out
evidence for court.

However, he said: "It is highly unusual on a Friday night to be
checking out drugs, saying you have court on Monday."

Today, the sheriff's office will begin an investigation of why
Madiedo was allowed to check out evidence from cases in which he was
not involved.

Officials also will review all of Madiedo's transactions with the
evidence room, Reder said.

Madiedo had served most of his 5 1/2-year career patrolling the
high-crime area near the University of South Florida. But, after
receiving his third suspension, Madiedo recently was moved to south
Hillsborough County.

That suspension was the result of a fight at a south Tampa bar in
December 2000 while he was off-duty.

In April 2000, Madiedo was shot while on duty, but escaped serious
injury because he was wearing a protective vest. No arrests have been
made in the shooting.

But eight months later, the shooting was still affecting Madiedo,
records show. Hospital records included in the sheriff's internal
affairs investigation into the bar fight say Madiedo's medical
history includes "a gunshot wound to the chest when he was wearing a
[flak] jacket," wrote Jerry Jamison, a physician at Memorial
Hospital. "Subsequently, the patient has been on a leave of absence
due to anxiety and depression, and he is currently followed by
psychiatrist who had prescribed Zoloft."

In 1997, Madiedo was suspended for one day without pay for failing to
appear for a subpoena. In August 1998, Madiedo shot Howard Richmond
in the buttocks after a traffic stop resulted in a struggle. The
state attorney's office cleared Madiedo of any wrongdoing. The
sheriff's office suspended him for 15 days for using unnecessary
deadly force. Richmond's civil lawsuit against the sheriff's office
is pending.

Friday was not the first time Madiedo has said he was resigning, Reder said.

"He had turned memos in, then rescinded them several times," he said.
"Friday, when he turned it in, it went all the way through to the
sheriff."