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Air Guard recruiter charged with selling drugs

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The Rhode Island Air National Guard suspended recruiting for five days Tuesday after a recruiter was arrested and accused of dealing cocaine and prescription drugs from his military office.

Tech. Sgt. Richard Flamand, 31, did not enter a plea to charges of possession of cocaine and prescription drugs with the intent to deliver, possession of marijuana and other crimes during an arraignment in Kent County District Court. A bail hearing was scheduled for June 15.

Acting on a tip from Air Force officials about three weeks ago, State Police made controlled drug buys from Flamand’s home in Coventry, where he was arrested Monday. Police learned from an informant that Flamand was supposedly selling drugs from his Cranston recruiting office, State Police Capt. David Neill said.

While searching that National Guard office, police found 40 grams of cocaine, Neill said. Prescription pills were taken from Flamand’s home, truck and office, including OxyContin, methadone and Viagra. Investigators also seized about $7,600 in cash from Flamand.

Flamand’s defense attorney, Richard Ciccone, said his client has never been arrested before and will seek to have him released on bail. Ciccone said he may challenge the reliability of the government’s unnamed informant and questioned whether investigators legally searched his client’s home, truck and office.

“He’s presumed to be innocent,” Ciccone said. “And we intend to plead him not guilty and put the state to its burden of proof.”

Flamand, an Air Guardsman for 12 years, has been suspended without pay from his full-time recruiting job, said Lt. Col. Denis Riel, a spokesman for the Rhode Island National Guard. He could also face a military court martial, and military authorities are investigating his contacts with recruits.

On Tuesday afternoon, military authorities decided to temporarily halt recruiting so the Air National Guard can conduct an audit of its procedures and give recruiters refresher legal and ethics training.

Flamand’s satellite recruiting office is staffed by a full-time receptionist and used by four other recruiters besides the suspect, Riel said. Police investigators have not accused anyone else of drug dealing.

“Clearly, we have an obligation to determine if any organizational practices or culture had a contributory role in allowing this alleged situation to develop unnoticed within our workplace,” said Maj. Gen. Robert Bray, the commanding general of the Rhode Island National Guard, in a written statement.