Raymond Hicks is a highly-decorated Broward County Sheriff's deputy with 15 years of service. After witnessing and reporting corruption in his agency, he was falsely charged with trafficking 350 kilos of cocaine and spent over 16 months behind bars, waiting for his day in court. Hicks joined guest host Richard Syrett (Twitter) to tell his story of how he fought these charges in front of a jury that only had to deliberate for 30 minutes before acquitting him of all charges.
Hicks provided background details about his life before law enforcement, including his difficult upbringing, college years where he excelled at football, and why he gave it all up to marry the woman he loved to start a family. They moved to Florida where he started work as a detention officer in Broward County. In 1990, he was pulled from the jail and used in drug sting operations. "This is the time when the Broward Sheriff's office would manufacture their own drugs and give it to us to be sold on the street, which is entrapment," he explained, pointing out the drugs were produced on the 7th floor of the courthouse building.
In 1994, Hicks was asked to complete special training to become a drill sergeant at a boot camp for troubled youth where completing the program would keep them out of jail. "I was really hard on them, but they knew I loved them," he admitted. After his stint at the boot camp, Hicks once again returned to law enforcement for drug operations. "I watched my colleagues do things that were morally wrong," he recalled, noting they would beat drug offenders then take their money and drugs. Hicks described them as crooks "no different than the ones we just arrested," and estimated about 70 percent of the officers in his orbit were crooked.
After witnessing the large-scale corruption around him, Hicks went to his sergeant about the matter. "He told me to mind my business... so I took it to the lieutenant," Hicks disclosed, adding the lieutenant essentially ignored him and told him they were going to put him back in a detention role. Hicks recounted the tragic day when he was at home, and 60-plus officers descended on his property with a warrant for his arrest. According to Hicks, he was not informed of his crime nor read his Miranda rights. He was placed into solitary confinement for 24 hours before being transported to a federal courthouse, where he discovered he was charged with trafficking 350 kilos of cocaine worth $750 million.
Discovery revealed the case was based on the hearsay of one individual - a career criminal and an informant who had been paid by corrupt officers to testify against Hicks. They were hoping Hicks would either get killed while incarcerated or take a plea deal, but he decided to go to trial. Hicks was ultimately acquitted of all charges.
The remainder of the program featured Open Lines.