CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A Mecklenburg County probation officer was arrested on drug charges, officials said.
Police said Justin McGlamery bought heroin at a popular local shopping center.
The Union County Sheriff's Office said deputies had watched McGlamery buy heroin four times, the last time on Thursday evening at the Stonecrest Shopping Center in south Charlotte, where they said he tried to hide the evidence.
"He did ingest a balloon and we did have to take him to the hospital and he was there for several hours," Chief Deputy Ben Bailey said.
Bailey said deputies took McGlamery from the hospital to the Union County jail, where they charged him with four counts of possession of heroin and trafficking in opiates. They said he paid for the heroin by selling prescription painkillers.
Bailey said arresting a fellow law enforcement officer is never easy.
"When it's a situation where you have a person of trust doing that, then it causes us even more concern," Bailey said.
The Department of Public Safety said McGlamery had been assigned to Mecklenburg County's probation office for less than a year and previously worked in a prison unit.
McGlamery is out of jail on bond, but the Sheriff's Office is not releasing his address to protect him from possible retribution from some of those whom he supervised.
He was also charged with selling Hydrocodone and oxycodone.
WSOC
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