Thomas McWain once received accolades for his work helping drug addicts get help.

A grand jury has now indicted the West Deptford cop on charges he filed false arrest reports and referred a drug offender to a rehab program in which he had a financial stake.

McWain, 31, of Woodstown, was charged last November with official misconduct, tampering with evidence and computer crime, after a six-month probe turned up evidence of alleged wrongdoing.

The case involves four arrests made in 2016 and 2017.

The 11-count indictment describes a December 2016 arrest in which McWain allegedly referred the man he nabbed to a drug rehab center in California in which McWain had a financial interest. He agreed to dismiss charges against this man if he attended the program, then submitted the man’s personal information to the center, according to documents.

Officials say McWain, while apparently posing as a civilian, allegedly asked people to meet up with him and to bring narcotics. He would then arrest them and refer these people to drug rehab services.

The indictment also describes false police reports filed against three people following their arrests in April 2017. The indictments do not suggest that he tried to divert them to the rehab program.

The township police department launched an internal affairs review after learning about a dubious arrest, then referred the matter to the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office. When McWain learned of that investigation, he “deleted text messages asking an individual to bring drugs to the scene of a motor vehicle stop,” authorities previously said.

According to count 10 of the indictment, McWain allegedly deleted those messages from the phone of one of the people he falsely arrested in April 2017.

The indictment also alleges that he accessed computerized criminal records without authorization in order to benefit someone else.

McWain was suspended with pay on April 28, 2017, and suspended without pay last November, following his arrest. He earned a salary of $74,000, according to state records.

He joined the West Deptford department in 2014 and was praised for getting drug addicts into recovery. He was the first cop in Gloucester County to earn certification as a drug addiction recovery coach and the township issued a proclamation honoring him for aiding addicts.

McWain’s attorney, Daniel Rybeck, had no comment on the case when contacted Tuesday. He previously said his client was doing his job and broke no laws when he made the arrests in question.

McWain will return to court July 13 for a post-indictment arraignment.

Source: https://www.nj.com/gloucester-county/index.ssf/2018/07/cop_indicted_in_drug_rehab_scheme_accused_of_filin.html#incart_2box_nj-homepage-featured