Former deputy pleads not guilty
Jessie Stiles is facing 53 charges connected with the theft of prescription pills from people’s homes.
Jessie Stiles, the former Floyd County deputy accused of stealing prescription pills from people’s homes while on duty, pleaded not guilty during his arraignment Friday.
Floyd County District Attorney Leigh Patterson said Stiles filed a waiver for Friday’s arraignment, which essentially means he entered a “not guilty” plea.
He has been indicted on 53 criminal charges including 12 counts of theft by taking, 22 counts of Violation of the Georgia Controlled Substances Act, five counts of exploiting an elder person, three counts of first-degree burglary, one count of exploiting a disabled adult and 10 counts of violating his oath of office.
Stiles was being held in jail without bond Friday.
According to the indictments provided by Floyd County Superior Court Clerk Barbara Penson:
Most of the alleged thefts happened in January, but Stiles is accused of repeatedly going to one person’s home between Sept. 1, 2015, and Jan. 26, 2016, to steal his hydrocodone.
The former deputy was fired on Jan. 22 after an investigation by Floyd County police Sgt. Chris Fincher into complaints filed against Stiles at the sheriff’s office.
On top of the hydrocodone, Stiles is accused of stealing Percocet, oxycodone, Lorcet, Alprazolam and Butabitol.
Stiles is accused of stealing from 11 different people, using either lies or threats to coerce them into giving him their medication.
The indictment states that he told several elderly victims he had to confiscate their medication for evidence or a drug count.
In many of the cases, Stiles was in uniform. Fincher said he told the victims that he was working undercover.
However, Fincher testified during a preliminary hearing in February that Stiles continued to steal after he was fired.
He allegedly took 74 hydrocodone pills from the victim’s home. The Floyd County 911 center received a call on Jan. 23 about a deputy in plainclothes asking about pills.
Most of these prescriptions were needed for the victims’ pain management plans, the indictment showed.