Sheriff’s deputy accused of working with inmate to smuggle drugs into jail

A Broward Sheriff’s detention deputy was arrested Friday after an investigation that began earlier this year determined that he was allegedly working with an inmate and the inmate’s wife to smuggle drugs and other contraband into the jail for the inmate to then sell.

Deputy Anderson Jean, 28, was hired in November 2020. He was held in the Main Jail as of Friday afternoon on two counts of introducing contraband into a detention facility, one count of criminal attempt to solicit and one count of unlawful compensation or reward for official behavior.

The Sheriff’s Office Department of Detention started its investigation in June of contraband being brought into the Paul Rein Detention Facility, where inmate Adrian Whipple, 38, was selling cigarettes, vapes, marijuana and molly, also known as MDMA or Ecstasy, to other inmates, the Sheriff’s Office said in a news release Friday.

Investigators discovered mobile payments between $20 to $500 that Whipple’s wife sent to the deputy, and Whipple in phone calls from the jail told his wife to send money to Jean, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Jean was caught with a vape at work in September, and he allegedly admitted to bringing the drugs and contraband inside for money, the Sheriff’s Office said. The Sheriff’s Office suspended him with pay then as the investigation continued.

Whipple told investigators this month that he asked Jean earlier in the year to participate, and Jean would meet with the inmate’s wife when he was off-duty to pick up the molly, then bring it into the jail and to give to Whipple, who then sold it inside the jail.

Whipple, who was arrested in May 2021, now faces an additional charge of introducing contraband into a detention facility, jail records show. As of Friday afternoon, he was held in the Main Jail.

The deputy has now been suspended without pay, the Sheriff’s Office said.

“What this detention deputy is suspected of doing is reprehensible. Detention deputies take an oath to uphold the law, and this deputy sold his morals and values for a few measly dollars while introducing dangerous drugs into a secure detention facility,” Sheriff Gregory Tony said in the news release. “As long as I am sheriff, this agency will remain steadfastly committed to transparency and accountability and to rooting out deputies who tarnish the badge.”