CRANSTON –– When the Air Force exhorted recruits to “Aim High,” what one top recruiter is charged with doing is probably not what it had in mind.
Richard Flamand, 31, a technical sergeant and full-time recruiter for the Rhode Island Air National Guard, is being held without bail on charges of selling drugs from the recruiting office on Oaklawn Avenue in Cranston, as well as from his home, in Coventry.
The state police and Air Force investigators say they seized illegal drugs and about $40,000 worth of prescription medication from Flamand’s house, his Dodge truck, and the recruiting office.
The 12-year Guard veteran was a member of the top recruiting team for the Air National Guard in all of New England last year, according to a spokesman for the Rhode Island Guard.
Hours after Flamand was brought to District Court on felony drug charges Tuesday, the Rhode Island Guard’s commanding general, Maj. Gen. Robert T. Bray, placed recruiting operations on “stand down” for five days for an audit of the recruiting offices and refresher classes for staff on ethics and legal training.
“The alleged actions of Technical Sergeant Richard Flamand are not in keeping with the core values of the United States Air Force or the R.I. National Guard and if sustained, are a gross violation of our sacred trust with the people of Rhode Island and the citizens of the United States,” Bray said in a statement Tuesday afternoon.
“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 Bray, who also is the state adjutant general.
Flamand was arrested on Monday after investigators from the state police High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force and the Air Force Office of Special Investigations seized cocaine, marijuana and several thousand doses of prescription medication, including OxyContin, Suboxone, methadone and hydrocodone, from his truck and his house at 33 Circle Drive, Coventry, according to the state police.
Forty grams of cocaine and prescription medication were found at Flamand’s office at the Air National Guard, the state police said. Flamand had $7,616, which the state police said was seized during the arrest.
State police Capt. David S. Neill said the Air Force had contacted his agency several weeks ago after getting a tip that Flamand was dealing prescription drugs from his house and the recruiting office. As the state police investigated, they were able to buy drugs from Flamand at his house, Neill said.
Flamand faces five felony charges: possession of cocaine of one ounce to one kilogram; possession with intent to deliver schedule I-II controlled drugs; possession with intent to deliver schedule III-IV controlled drugs; possession of cocaine, and possession of marijuana.
District Court Judge Jeanne LaFazia ordered Flamand held pending a bail hearing June 15.
Flamand was immediately relieved of duty and his pay was suspended, pending the outcome of the criminal and internal affairs investigations, said spokesman Lt. Col. Denis Riel. The National Guard may prefer charges via the court-martial process under the Uniformed Code of Military Justice, a decision that will wait until adjudication of the criminal charges.
“We’re looking at this as an isolated incident,” Riel said. “His team of recruiters is stunned by the developments.”