The Orange County sheriff’s deputy arrested in March, suspected of being under the influence after two crashes in just 33 minutes and sending an elderly couple careening into a tree, is in even more legal hot water.
The District Attorney’s Office filed nine additional felony charges against former deputy Allan James Waters, accusing him of lying to eight doctors in order to be prescribed painkillers.
As soon as Waters handed in his badge and gun in June, he was arrested by his former department on a warrant for the DUI and on suspicion of being a drug dealer who traded fake drugs and cash in exchange for prescription drugs.
Apparently, the D.A.’s Office says, Waters, a 13-year department veteran, wasn’t even on the straight side of crooked. Not only did his off-the-clock activities tarnish the badge of the Sheriff’s Department, he wasn’t up-front with his customers, prosecutors believe.
According to the District Attorney’s Office, he tried to pull a fast one by using a white powder instead of cocaine.
Now investigators say that wasn’t all Waters was up to.
According to the District Attorney’s Office, Waters, 37, was doctor shopping for prescriptions for the drugs Opana and Oxycodone. When one doctor stopped prescribing the drugs, he found a new one, making up new stories as he went, according to prosecutors.
Between March 2009 and March 2010, the veteran deputy had made a stop at the offices of eight different doctors.
Nine felony charges obtaining a controlled substance through fraud were tacked on to his previous charges of one felony count of driving under the influence causing bodily injury, two felony counts of selling a substance in lieu of cocaine, and a sentencing enhancement for causing great bodily injury to an elder.
That’s 12 felonies and a sentencing enhancement if you’re keeping track.
If convicted, Waters faces up to 13 years and four months in state prison.
Waters is out on $100,000 bail. He’s scheduled to be back in court Dec.17.
People who know him say he is a nice guy who was a good deputy with an addiction to prescription drugs. That addiction apparently led him down the wrong path – on the wrong side of the law he was sworn to uphold.
The demise of Waters, 37, began in January when he was placed on paid administrative leave – for exactly what, sheriff’s officials aren’t saying. They’d like to, but police officer rights built into the law prohibit it.
While off on paid leave, Waters found himself in a different kind of trouble.
The Watchdog first reported that on March 5, Waters was the driver in two DUI crashes just 33 minutes apart.
According to a CHP report, Waters was driving under the influence when he crashed his 2008 Mercedes in to a Toyota, sending the couple inside into a tree.
About half a mile away, and half an hour earlier, deputies were called to a wreck outside Dana Point City Hall between Waters’ Mercedes and a Lexus. Deputies took a traffic report, Assistant Sheriff Mike James confirmed. When the drivers were sent on their way, Waters drove off. The 78-year-old woman he hit went to the hospital. She would eventually have to have back surgery to repair her injuries.
Minutes later, Waters crashed again, the California Highway Patrol investigated, and this time Waters was sent to county jail, accused of driving under the influence.
What Waters may not have known that night is that he was being followed by a citizen so concerned about his erratic driving that she called 911 and tailed him until help arrived.
Unfortunately for Benjamin and Dolores Molina, it was too late. According to the CHP report, the second accident on the Street of the Golden Lantern began when “due to Waters’ level of intoxication, he unsafely turned his Mercedes to the right.”
That turn sent the Mercedes bouncing off curbs and into the Molinas’ Toyota. The Toyota ended up crashing into a tree, and Dolores Molina went to a hospital. Witnesses said Waters told authorities it was Benjamin Molina who hit him. Not so fast, according to the CHP report.
Benjamin Molina said officers told him Waters had confided that he was taking medication for a back injury. According to prosecutors, Waters was under the influence of zolpidem and hydrocodone when he was arrested.
Waters, who was assigned to the department’s South Operations, spent two nights in the county jail, held on suspicion of felony driving under the influence and causing injury, according to county records.
After his release, prosecutors say, he hooked up with a female friend at least twice in April to trade money and cocaine for the prescription drugs Opana and OxyContin. His friend got the short end of that deal, prosecutors say. The “cocaine” turned out to be nothing more than a white powdery substance.
Waters already lost the fight for his job. Now he’s fighting for his freedom.
