PUTNAM COUNTY, Fla. – A now-former Putnam County corrections officer has found himself on the other side of the law.
David Garcia, 25, turned himself in after a warrant was issued for his arrest for allegedly assaulting an inmate and helping another inmate bring narcotics into the jail.
“David Garcia doesn’t deserve to wear a badge and will never have one again. His conduct is a blemish to the expectation that I have of all our agency members,” said Putnam County Sheriff Gator Deloach.
His arrest comes in connection to a story News4JAX first reported last week. That story involved a murder suspect accused of scheming to smuggle drugs into the Putnam County jail.
Authorities said Garcia had a bright future but chose to allow himself to become corrupted by an inmate. But they didn’t know about the alleged corruption until after he was fired following unrelated incidents.
Garcia started working at the Putnam County jail back in October of last year. By January, he was fired after investigators say he assaulted a co-worker and an inmate inside the facility while he was on duty.
Shortly after Garcia’s employment was terminated, Putnam County detectives began investigating Francisco Arroyo, a verified Latin King gang member with ties to a Mexican drug cartel. Arroyo, 29, was a Putnam County jail inmate awaiting trial for murder and two counts of attempted murder. Deputies identified him as a suspect who plotted to have illegal narcotics snuck into the jail with help from a woman on the outside. Investigators said Arroyo also recruited Garcia.
MDMA and marijuana are what investigators said were coming into the jail along with cigarettes which are also considered contraband. But the operation failed when investigators said Arroyo attempted to bribe another corrections deputy who was assigned to Garcia’s old post.
That deputy alerted the jail administrator and then aided detectives investigating the case by going undercover. As a result of the months-long investigation, Arroyo was transferred out of the Putnam County jail to the St. Johns County jail where authorities said he didn’t know the inmates or the corrections officers. In addition to the murder and attempted murder charges, Arroyo is now also facing attempted drug trafficking charges.
As a result of the same investigation, Garcia is facing charges of introducing contraband into the jail along with a charge of battery on an inmate.
After Garcia turned himself in, he left the jail after posting a $100,000 bond.
If his name sounds familiar, it might be because Garcia is a professional boxer who made a name for himself locally when he was an amateur boxer.