Seminole deputy charged in drug theft

A Seminole County Sheriff ’s deputy was arrested Thursday on charges that he stole prescription pain medication from a storage safe. Lt. Jason Bender, who is assigned to the Sheriff ’s Office City County Investigative Bureau, had access to the safe inside the bureau’s office, according to an arrest report. He is accused of entering it at least four times during the past month and taking oxycodone pills for personal use, the report states. Investigators found out about the missing drugs Wednesday when a deputy noticed some of the packages in the safe and their contents were disturbed. Investigators took an inventory and realized the drugs had disappeared. The total amount missing wasn’t released. Sheriff ’s officials said an investigation eventually led them to Bender. He was charged with four counts of grand theft of a controlled substance and later released from the John E. Polk Correctional Facility on bail. The Sheriff ’s Office said Bender has been suspended.