Cops swap drugs in FL evidence for fakes, sell real stuff, feds say. 2 sentenced

Two Florida law enforcement officers, who were deputized to help the Drug Enforcement Administration, worked together to steal drugs from evidence to sell, prosecutors said.

Joshua Earrey, a former Florida Highway Patrol state trooper from Jacksonville, has now been sentenced to nine years in prison, per court records. His accused co-conspirator, a sheriff’s deputy, got 17 years in prison, McClatchy News previously reported.

McClatchy News reached out to Earrey’s attorney April 21 but did not immediately receive a response.

Earrey pleaded guilty in April 2024 to conspiracy to distribute narcotics, conspiracy to defraud the United States and possession of firearms and ammunition while an unlawful user of controlled substances, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida.

In addition to working with then Sgt. James Hickox to steal and sell drugs from evidence storage, Earrey is accused of accepting at least $20,000 in bribes to help drug dealers avoid arrest.

Stealing from evidence

Hickox was a deputy with the Nassau County Sheriff’s Office when he and Earrey began working together to enrich themselves from traffic stops and raids, according to prosecutors.

Documents show both were also task force officers for the DEA.

The pair collaborated on searching freight shipments, storage units and vehicles to confiscate drugs, targeting marijuana in particular because it was stored locally rather than sent to the DEA, according to officials.

“Earrey and his co-conspirator stole more than 1,000 pounds of marijuana from evidence and covered up the theft by submitting falsified paperwork showing that the drugs had been destroyed,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

They also set their sights on stealing cocaine and fentanyl, in one case staging a traffic stop with photos to obtain fentanyl that turned out to be another drug, prosecutors said.

In another instance in August 2022, Earrey worked on a DEA investigation that ended in officers confiscating a brick of cocaine weighing about one kilogram, prosecutors said.

Earrey documented the weight, then Hickox told him how they could replace the real cocaine brick for a fake brick and sell the real one, according to investigators.

Hickox gave Earrey a 3D printed “brick of cocaine” he had made in advance, dusted with real cocaine to sell the story, prosecutors said.

The real cocaine was destined for destruction at a DEA lab, so Earrey checked it out of evidence under the guise of transporting it to the lab, then he made the swap, according to investigators.

Earrey gave the real cocaine to Hickox, who in turn provided it to an accused drug dealer to sell, and they made about $20,000, officials said.

Theft of cash

The pair is also accused of stealing cash they obtained during searches on the job, swiping $15,000 one time and $4,000 another time, documents show.

They prepared bags in advance to deposit the money into, and Earrey forged two federal officers’ signatures and under-reported the amount of money they seized, according to authorities.

Earrey used the drug theft and cash theft scheme to buy oxycodone, an addiction that began when he underwent a significant surgery, authorities said.

“The defendant purchased pills with cash from his illicit activity, which included cash he stole from law enforcement seizures and cash he received from the sale of controlled substances he stole from law enforcement seizures,” prosecutors wrote in a plea agreement.

Investigators said on multiple occasions, Earrey gave accused drug dealers firearm ammo from work and marijuana in exchange for oxycodone.

Earrey’s substance abuse disqualified him from owning guns, leading to a criminal charge, authorities said.

This story was originally published April 21, 2025 at 2:28 PM with the headline "Cops swap drugs in FL evidence for fakes, sell real stuff, feds say. 2 sentenced."