Keys jail guard ends up on the wrong side of where she works

A Florida Keys jail guard wound up on the wrong side of the building she had been guarding Tuesday.

Ashlie Hernandez, 27, is charged with two counts possession of a controlled substance without a prescription and one count of theft of a controlled substance, all felonies, for allegedly stealing Oxycodone and Xanax from a Key West police officer. She’s been suspended without pay from her job as a detention deputy with the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office and was released from jail on her own recognizance later in the day.

The Sheriff’s Office says she stole the drugs from Key West police officer David Kouri while babysitting for him Monday night.

The Sheriff’s Office says Kouri told Special Operations Sgt. Juan Llerra that he had just filled his prescriptions and knew how many pills were in the bottles because he had not yet taken any of them. Deputy Becky Herrin said Kouri said he went to dinner and when he returned, he counted the pills and found some missing. Hernandez denied taking them, Herrin said.

Tuesday afternoon, Sheriff’s Office detectives had Kouri call Hernandez to discuss the alleged theft and on the phone call, she reportedly told him her boyfriend took the drugs. Kouri asked her to return them and they agreed to meet in the parking lot of the Key West Police Department on North Roosevelt Boulevard later in the afternoon.

Just before 4 p.m., the meeting took place and Hernandez handed over a plastic bag with the pills inside, Herrin said. Hernandez left but a short distance away, Sheriff’s Office detectives stopped her in her vehicle and arrested her.

The Sheriff’s Office hired Hernandez on Aug. 6, 2012. She earns $45,583 annually.

This story was originally published October 25, 2017 at 11:17 AM with the headline "Keys jail guard ends up on the wrong side of where she works."