FORMER MARTIN DEPUTY ARRESTED

Charged With Impersonating Officer

RUSSELL - A former Martin County Sheriff's deputy was arrested here
Tuesday after allegedly impersonating a police officer to obtain
prescriptions at a South Shore medical clinic, authorities said.

Gary L. McCallister, 56, of Pilgrim, was arrested by Flatwoods and Russell
police Tuesday along U.S. 23 in Russell.

He was fired from the Martin County Sheriff's Department more than two
years ago, Sheriff Darriel Young said.

Flatwoods Police Sgt. Kevin Diedrich said McCallister had visited Tri-State
Health Care in South Shore three times to get prescriptions for controlled
substances over the past two months, and had visited a clinic in Waverly,
Ohio, twice for the same purpose within the same time period.

A nurse at the South Shore clinic suspected McCallister was "doctor
shopping" and refused to give him another prescription after checking on
his medical background and learning about his trips to Waverly, Diedrich said.

McCallister then allegedly became irate and produced his old Martin County
badge - which he had never turned in - telling the nurse he was an
undercover officer working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation on a
joint probe into people looking for doctors to write prescriptions for
controlled substances.

He received two prescriptions from the clinic, one for the narcotic Lorcet
and another for an antihistamine called Hydroxyzine.

Diedrich said an undercover FIVCO Area Drug Enforcement (FADE) task force
officer tipped police off to McCallister's actions.

He was stopped by Diedrich heading south on U.S. 23 in Russell shortly
before 4 p.m.

Russell Patrolman James Crisp assisted with the arrest.

"Martin County sent us a teletype telling us McCallister had been fired two
years ago and to arrest him," Crisp said.

In addition to the badge, McCallister had a two-way radio capable of
receiving police frequencies and a 9 mm pistol in his GMC truck, Crisp said.

He also had two or three cans of pepper spray, Diedrich said.

Both officers said McCallister was cooperative in his arrest, though he
told the two he was working undercover with the FBI and the U.S. Marshal's
Service.

"He even gave me a name to call at the FBI," Crisp said. "I called (the FBI
agent). He had never heard of him (McCallister)."

McCallister is lodged in the Greenup County Detention Center on a charge of
impersonating an officer, a felony punishable by up to five years in prison.

Other charges are pending, Diedrich said.

Two others were in the truck with McCallister - one male and one female.

The male also had obtained prescriptions at the South Shore clinic, but
neither of the passengers were charged, Diedrich said.

Young declined to comment about why McCallister was fired from the Martin
County Sheriff's Department.

He said McCallister was never a paid deputy, but a volunteer.

"For a while, he was a good volunteer; I liked him," Young said. "But then
some things started happening that ended it."

McCallister remained in custody this morning. A deputy jailer said his bond
hadn't been set.