Fairfax County Deputy Sheriff  Receives Prison Term In Conspiracy With Inmate

Thursday, September 19, 2024, 10:15 A.M. ET. 3 Minute Read, By Art Fletcher: Englebrook Independent News,

ALEXANDRIA, VA.- On Wednesday, September 18, 2024, Robert Theodore Sanford, Jr., appeared in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia and was sentenced to 78 months in federal prison for conspiring to distribute illicit narcotics and other contraband to an inmate at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center in exchange for bribes, as well as women that Sanford trafficked out of an apartment he rented for financial gain and sexual gratification.

According To Assistant U.S. Attorney Heather Call

     According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Heather D. Call and documents filed in the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Virginia, from May 2021 to June 21, 2023, Sanford was employed as a correctional officer at Fairfax County Adult Detention Center (Fairfax ADC), which holds detainees both pre-trial and post-trial in Fairfax County, Virginia.

     From December 2022 through May 2023, Sanford smuggled contraband into Fairfax ADC and provided the contraband and confidential law-enforcement-sensitive information to an inmate. The contraband included a cell phone and distribution amounts of fentanyl, cocaine, and suboxone. Sanford also provided latex gloves and glue to the inmate to conceal the contraband. The inmate then trafficked the drugs to other inmates.

Sandford Supplied Drugs To Prostitutes

     Outside Fairfax ADC, Sanford picked up illicit narcotics from the inmate’s associates. In addition to the narcotics Sanford smuggled into Fairfax ADC, Sanford distributed drugs to women who lived and prostituted themselves out of an apartment that Sanford leased.

     “Robert Sanford preyed on the vulnerabilities of people in his care,” said Jessica D. Aber, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “His corruption didn’t stop with profiting from feeding the addictions of inmates in his charge. Rather than assisting homeless and addicted members of his community, Sanford used drugs to entrap them into a life of prostitution for his own gain.”

Supplied Confidential Information To Imate

     Further, Sanford provided the inmate with information such as advance warning of cell searches by deputies, cell blocks to which deputies were going to search, whether deputies would be conducting strip searches, and where the drug-sniffing K9 units were going to be utilized.

     Sanford also provided the inmate with information regarding other inmates, including which inmates might be giving law enforcement, which assisted Sanford’s co-conspirator in intimidating potential witnesses.

     On May 4, 2023, Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office deputies at Fairfax ADC conducted a strip search of Sanford’s co-conspirator, and in the inmate’s long underwear where, deputies found a cell phone and two charging cables, one potable cellular phone charger, and one USB charging brick. Deputies also found 92 counterfeit oxycodone pills, 174 suboxone strips, and well over three grams of cocaine.

     The following day, Sanford was informed of the seizure during the roll call. Sanford removed his cash tag name and personal email address from the CashApp account he used to receive payments for smuggling contraband into Fairfax ADC. He also stopped sending messages and making calls to the inmate and other conspirators and deleted related messages. Within two weeks of the Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office finding the contraband, Sanford began the process of resigning from his employment, falsely citing childcare challenges as the reason for his resignation.

     “I am incredibly grateful for the efforts of our Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office investigators and their federal colleagues that uncovered the corruption that put deputies and inmates at extreme risk,” said Stacey A. Kincaid, Fairfax County Sheriff. “This criminal conduct within the A.D.C. is unacceptable, and we will relentlessly pursue those who abuse their positions of trust for personal gain. We express our thanks to the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI for their collaboration and partnership in bringing this criminal to justice.”