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Steroids suspect sentenced in road rage assault
By Sandy Hodson
Staff Writer
Thursday, Sept. 24, 2015
A man whose arrest set off a storm of speculation about steroid use by Richmond County sheriff’s officers was sentenced Thursday to
a year of incarceration.
Brandon Paquette,
32, was convicted of battery in Richmond Coun*ty State Court for a road rage incident that took place in June 2014, about four months before narcotics officers searched his Augusta home and reported finding vials of steroids.
Taiwo Olanipekun took out a warrant alleging that Paquette dragged him out of his car at Eve Street and Walton Way and beat him with his fists June 6,
2014. Olanipekun said in an affidavit that Paquette caused swelling, knots and bruises.
Paquette, according to the jail’s booking information, is 6 foot 3 and weighs
225 pounds.
A search warrant was executed at Paquette’s home Oct.
16, 2014. He has pleaded not guilty in Richmond County Superior Court to charges of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.
After Paquette’s arrest, he was administered a polygraph test over his allegations that he had supplied steroids to officers for
10 years.
The sheriff’s office turned the case over to the Geor**gia Bureau of Inves*tigation, which submitted its results to the district attorney’s office in March.
District Attorney Ashley Wright has said her office would review the file to determine whether criminal charges will be filed. Details on the findings remain confidential while the file is under review.
Although no officer has admitted to current use of steroids and none has any been disciplined in connection with usage, three members of the narcotics unit have resigned since Paquette’s arrest, including the lead investigator in his steroid case, Jason Kennedy, who left to work for the Drug Enforcement Admin*is*tration.
Mike Swint, a fourth officer who had worked in narcotics for several years, resigned days after Paquette’s drug bust.
Paquette’s brother, Cameron “Ryan” Paquette, was arrested last year on threat charges in Columbia County. He is accused of telling Richmond County narcotics In*ves*tigator Joel Danko over the phone on Oct.
22, 2014, that he would bash in the investigator’s head and sexually assault his wife.
Cameron Paquette, who has pleaded not guilty, was held
in jail until a
$20,000 bond was set Dec. 3.
By Sandy Hodson
Staff Writer
Thursday, Sept. 24, 2015
A man whose arrest set off a storm of speculation about steroid use by Richmond County sheriff’s officers was sentenced Thursday to
a year of incarceration.
Brandon Paquette,
32, was convicted of battery in Richmond Coun*ty State Court for a road rage incident that took place in June 2014, about four months before narcotics officers searched his Augusta home and reported finding vials of steroids.
Taiwo Olanipekun took out a warrant alleging that Paquette dragged him out of his car at Eve Street and Walton Way and beat him with his fists June 6,
2014. Olanipekun said in an affidavit that Paquette caused swelling, knots and bruises.
Paquette, according to the jail’s booking information, is 6 foot 3 and weighs
225 pounds.
A search warrant was executed at Paquette’s home Oct.
16, 2014. He has pleaded not guilty in Richmond County Superior Court to charges of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.
After Paquette’s arrest, he was administered a polygraph test over his allegations that he had supplied steroids to officers for
10 years.
The sheriff’s office turned the case over to the Geor**gia Bureau of Inves*tigation, which submitted its results to the district attorney’s office in March.
District Attorney Ashley Wright has said her office would review the file to determine whether criminal charges will be filed. Details on the findings remain confidential while the file is under review.
Although no officer has admitted to current use of steroids and none has any been disciplined in connection with usage, three members of the narcotics unit have resigned since Paquette’s arrest, including the lead investigator in his steroid case, Jason Kennedy, who left to work for the Drug Enforcement Admin*is*tration.
Mike Swint, a fourth officer who had worked in narcotics for several years, resigned days after Paquette’s drug bust.
Paquette’s brother, Cameron “Ryan” Paquette, was arrested last year on threat charges in Columbia County. He is accused of telling Richmond County narcotics In*ves*tigator Joel Danko over the phone on Oct.
22, 2014, that he would bash in the investigator’s head and sexually assault his wife.
Cameron Paquette, who has pleaded not guilty, was held
in jail until a
$20,000 bond was set Dec. 3.
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