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By RYAN DAVIS
© St. Petersburg Times, published March 8, 2001
One drug charge against Pasco County sheriff's civil Deputy Gloria Mays has been dropped by prosecutors, but her request for unemployment benefits faces a stiff challenge from the Sheriff's Office, authorities said.
"Our main argument is that she's still employed," Sheriff's Office attorney Mike Randall said.
Mays, 55, a 16-year employee of the Sheriff's Office, was suspended without pay Jan. 22, two days after she was accused of paying two undercover detectives $19,000 for a kilogram -- about 2.2 pounds -- of powder cocaine at a McDonald's restaurant in Miami, authorities said.
She mailed an unemployment claim to the state Agency for Workforce Innovation on Feb. 28, according to the Sheriff's Office. The agency has asked the Sheriff's Office for input and will decide whether she is eligible to receive up to $275 a week in unemployment benefits.
Her chances of approval don't look good, agency spokesman Warren May said.
"I think it would be real questionable, real doubtful," he said.
Randall said the Sheriff's Office is mailing the state agency a copy of Mays' arrest report as well as a letter saying that Mays is not unemployed, she is just on administrative leave without pay pending the result of her May 7 trial.
If Mays wanted to find another job while she is suspended, she could, Randall said.
At her trial, Mays will apparently face one fewer charge. A State Attorney's Office spokesman said Wednesday that his agency has dropped the cocaine possession charge against Mays.
He added that it's nothing for her to get excited about.
"There's no glimmer of hope in the dropping of the possession of cocaine charge," spokesman Ed Griffith said.
Griffith said the charge was dropped because Mays was only briefly in possession of the cocaine before she was arrested. While she faces a maximum of 30 years and a minimum of 15 years in prison if convicted of trafficking in cocaine, a cocaine possession conviction would not necessarily carry prison time, he said.
Mays could not be reached for comment Wednesday. Her Miami attorney, Scott Saul, declined to comment on Wednesday.
Mays pleaded not guilty Feb. 20 to the charges. Her two co-defendants Linda Fae Scott, 45, of 20706 Center St. in Dade City, and Joe Nathan Vaughn, 47, of 15245 Davis Loop No. 36 in Dade City, also have pleaded not guilty.
- Times reporter Tamara Lush contributed to this report and information from Times files was used in this report.