Deputy Arrested in Drug Sting

A Riverside County sheriff’s deputy is free on bail after being arrested Friday on suspicion of possessing methamphetamine while on duty.

Deputy James Reynolds, 32, of Corona was caught on videotape in a sting operation at about 1 a.m., Sheriff Bob Doyle said. The deputy was booked on suspicion of drug possession and destroying evidence.

The undercover operation was set up after a tip was received that Reynolds had ingested methamphetamine that he had recovered during an arrest. “We think that’s where he may have gotten the dope, from a previous case,” Doyle said Monday.

He said the department would seek to have Reynolds jailed, thrown off the force and ordered to undergo counseling.

“I will use every legal means to ensure that both the criminal and internal investigations that I have ordered in this case are completed in a professional and timely manner,” Doyle said.

Reynolds, who has been with the department since April 1996, was a patrol officer assigned to the Jurupa Valley station, according to department spokesman Dennis Gutierrez.

Doyle said four other officers at the station who may have known about Reynolds’ alleged behavior and did not report it have been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of investigations.

Reynolds could not be reached for comment. He was booked into the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside after his arrest and was placed in a segregated area because he is a law enforcement officer. He was released after posting bail, but authorities could not immediately provide additional details.

Doyle said that though the arrest was “very disturbing,” the drug allegedly involved did not surprise him.

“San Bernardino and Riverside counties are pretty much known as the meth capital of the world,” he said.

Authorities in Riverside County seized 226 alleged meth-making labs, arrested 382 people and removed 89 children from the lab sites from the beginning of 2002 through March 2003, according to the Riverside-based Inland Narcotics Clearinghouse.

The last reported criminal case against a Riverside County sheriff’s deputy involved an officer from the Banning station who was robbing motorists after confronting them while in uniform. The deputy, identified as Paul Davidson of Moreno Valley, was arrested in May 1996.

“He’s in prison now,” Doyle said.