BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Authorities say a Florida deputy stole prescription medications from a dead man’s home after Hurricane Irma.
The Palm Beach Post reports that Deputy Jason Cooke was arrested Thursday and charged with burglary and grand theft.
Authorities say Palm Beach deputies went to an 85-year-old man’s Boynton Beach home for a wellness check on Sept. 12, two days after the storm made landfall in Florida. The man was found collapsed in the bedroom and later died at a nearby hospital.
Later that day, the man’s son received an alert from the home’s motion detector. Surveillance footage showed Cooke, who wasn’t with the deputies that responded earlier, enter the home through the garage. Authorities say Cooke took pain pills, muscle relaxers and anti-psychotic medication.
The family also released a statement which read in part, “In our opinion, had we not had this video, this cop would still be out there posing a threat of danger to the community he swore to protect and committing more crimes. It is our hope that the justice system treats this cop like any other criminal out there and that he doesn’t receive further preferential treatment because he is a police officer.”
Cooke admitted that he had a problem and later went into treatment before he was arrested.
He was being held on $28,000 bail. Jail records didn’t list an attorney.
Cooke has been placed on paid leave while the investigation continues.
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