Ocala, Florida — Former Ocala Police Officer Robert Cashner, 40, was fired from his job following an Internal Affairs investigation.
Cashner is accused of stealing 17 Oxycodone pills from a woman’s apartment while following up on a grand theft case on March 12, 2014.
The woman stated that when Cashner arrived at her apartment, he asked her if she had Oxycodone stolen, to which she replied, “Yes.” She said the officer then told her he would have to go to his car to “log” the pills. The woman stated that he then left her apartment with the pill bottle and returned a short time later to give her back the bottle.
The woman stated that she didn’t notice the pills were gone until after Cashner left. She then contacted OPD to report the missing pills. She said she should have had 27½ pills left in the bottle but only had 10½, therefore 17 were missing.
During questioning, it was determined that the woman has short term memory and she could not keep her facts straight about how many pills she had actually taken and how many were left in the bottle. According to a family member, [she] has been having problems keeping her bank account straight and fights with the bank on balance amounts. The family member also stated that the woman has been over medicating herself. The family member told investigators that she had serious doubts that Cashner stole the pills. Moreover, the original police report for the grand theft case filed by the woman with a different officer, made no mention of Oxycodone being stolen.
When Cashner was questioned about the allegations, he denied stealing the pills and said he never left the apartment with the pill bottle. Cashner told investigators the he counted the pills in front of the woman then handed the bottle back to her with the 10½ pills still in the bottle.
A witness told investigators that he saw Cashner standing at his patrol vehicle writing something on the day in question. The witness stated the he could not tell whether or not Cashner was holding a pill bottle.
On the day that the pills were reported stolen, a search of Cashner’s person and his assigned patrol vehicle were performed with negative results.
However, during the investigation Cashner told Internal Affairs investigators that on March 10, 2014, his day off, he consumed four (4) or six (6) Percocet (Oxycodone), on March 11, 2014 he consumed some and on March 12, 2014, the morning he returned to work, he consumed one (1). Cashner stated that he took eight (8) to ten (10) Percocet during the two and a half days. He stated that he has never told anyone he has been on Percocet while working.
Cashner denied the Percocet that he had taken were the stolen pills in question. Cashner stated that he has a prescription for the Percocet he had taken, but since the bottle was empty, he threw it in the trash on the morning of March 12, 2014.
The conclusion of the investigation determined that Cashner violated the Ocala Police Department’s Substance Abuse, Drug Free Workplace and Serious Misconduct Policies.
Cashner was a police officer with OPD for 5½ years.
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