South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Police: Fire captain involved in drug conspiracy with man who killed him
A Palm Beach Gardens Fire Rescue captain who died in what was thought to be an accidental shooting was part of a drug sale conspiracy that lasted for nearly a year, investigators say.
James Gilliard, 48, was allegedly shot dead on Nov. 2 by Jay Brett Rind, 63, while the two men were at Rind’s home in Palm Beach Gardens, according to a probable cause affidavit filed Wednesday in Palm Beach Circuit Court.
Originally, Rind told police that Gilliard was accidentally shot in the stomach with a handgun. According to the affidavit, Rind said he had informed Gilliard he was in line for a “deal of a lifetime” because he planned on moving to Mexico and giving Gilliard two of his firearms. The two men had known each other for four years, according to the affidavit. Rind told police he made a living buying and selling jewelry.
After Rind swore that the shooting was an accident, the affidavit says, he was charged with manslaughter and the improper exhibition of a firearm.
But after investigators reviewed a series of Rind’s cellphone text messages, the state is now charging him with third-degree murder and several drug offenses.
In the document, investigators lay out what they say was a criminal narcotics conspiracy among Gilliard, Rind, and Rind’s roommate, Alex Paquin. The three men, police say, were dealing in opioids and amphetamines.
There is no further mention of Paquin in police records, and local circuit court records do not show that he faces any charges in the case.
Police say they reached their conclusion that Rind and Gilliard were allegedly involved with drugs after reviewing hundreds of chats and instant messages between the two men. During a 10-month period starting in late December
2019 and ending on Nov. 2,
2020, the day of the shooting, the pair “appeared to exchange text messages dealing with buying, selling or trading of drugs on at least 77 separate occasions.”
“During the course of reviewing the text messages, it became readily apparent that Mr. Rind, his roommate ‘Alex,’ and Mr. Gilliard were engaged in an ongoing conspiracy to distribute narcotics that Mr. Rind either received prescriptions for or brought back during his trips to Mexico,” the affidavit says.
Drugs were also apparently in Gilliard’s blood on the day he died, police said. “He had amphetamines, alprazolam, morphine, and oxycodone in his system at the time of his death,” according to the affidavit.
Rind, who is free on a $20,000 bond, is scheduled to appear in court again on Dec. 10.