Federal authorities arrested a Wilson County Sheriff’s Office deputy Monday night for allegedly interfering with a federal drug-trafficking investigation while he was assigned to the investigating task force.
A federal criminal complaint charged John Patrick Edwards, 38, with allegedly attempting to obstruct a federal criminal investigation. According to an affidavit, Edwards, through his position on the FBI Violent Crimes Task Force, offered to sell for $100,000 information related to a target of a federal drug-trafficking investigation.
On April 12, Edwards accepted $15,000 cash as partial payment for the information obtained from a federal wiretap, confidential informants and agents working the investigation.
Edwards had “substantial knowledge” of the investigation, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee, by being assigned to the task force, on which he worked until a recent arrest by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation in an unrelated matter. Edwards was suspended from his deputy position following that arrest.