‘Bad Apple In The Barrel’: California Sheriff’s Deputy Busted With More Than 250 Pounds Of Marijuana

Drug Task Force officials tipped off for a drug bust in Pennsylvania’s York County were left shocked after they found out that one of the three men arrested with more than 250 pounds of marijuana, fanned-out $100 and $20 bills, a handgun, and other items was in fact one of their own.

According to the Evening Sun, California Sheriff’s Deputy, Christopher Heath, 37, had his badge and service weapon when he was arrested during what officials described as “not a routine traffic stop” last week, along with Ryan Falsone and Tyler Long, who, police say, were part of a cross-country drug ring — delivering marijuana.

Now all three men have been charged with possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance and criminal conspiracy, according to York County District Court records.

Although York County District Attorney Tom Kearney said that they knew “who [they] were going to stop and why”, the police, he admitted, were not aware that one of the men, Christopher Heath, in fact worked in law enforcement. ?Heath is a Sheriff’s Deputy in California’s Yuba County, and was also a member of a bi-county drug and gang task force, according to officials.

“One has to be both saddened and angry when you hear of something like this. The work that is done by the task force and police officers in general is very dangerous work, and it is made more dangerous by the fact that occasionally there is a bad apple in the barrel.”

Hanover Borough Police Chief Chad Martin also expressed his disgust when he came to know the truth about the Sheriff’s deputy’s professional identity, adding that he could not believe that a fellow law enforcement official would “sell out all their brothers and sisters for a quick buck.”

Sheriff’s deputy arrested in $2 million marijuana bust https://t.co/MB8trYTl4k pic.twitter.com/DcKrVi7z5g

— RT (@RT_com) January 5, 2016

According to Fox‘s Pennsylvania affiliate, the California Sheriff’s deputy, along with his two associates, drove across the country in two pickup trucks to deliver the drugs to a home on the 100 block of Frogtown Road in West Manheim Township. It was there that Drug Task Force officials, who had “received intelligence” about the delivery, busted the men inside one of the pickup trucks.

“This wasn’t just random traffic stop. This was an ongoing investigation that was being conducted by the York County Drug Task Force and the Pennsylvania State Police,” an officer told the news organization on Sunday.

Along with discovering that the men were carrying 250 pounds of marijuana, valued at about $2 million, Drug Task officials also recovered roughly $11,000 in fanned-out dollar bills, a handgun, and a t-shirt bearing an image of a pit bull with the phrase “Triple Cross Pitbulls” from one of the men.

The three men later confessed to driving the drugs from California to Pennsylvania.

York County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Dave Sunday said the arrest of the California Sheriff’s deputy was a black day for law enforcement everywhere.

“You’re saddened, and disappointed, and angry that one of our own decided to get into this endeavor and tarnish the badge.”

The California Sheriff’s deputy had traveled to Waco, Texas, last year to testify in a federal case against a man accused of participating in a family-run marijuana trafficking ring.

Once the case is over, the recovered marijuana will be destroyed in an incinerator, officials confirmed.

[Photo by Mark Renders/Getty Images]