Ex-Pasco deputy to plead guilty in drug case

TAMPA -- A former Pasco County sheriff's deputy has agreed to plead guilty to federal drug and gun charges in a case involving hundreds of illegally distributed hydrocodone pills, according to court records filed today.

Don Riggans, 34, is scheduled to enter his guilty plea on Friday before U.S. District Judge Richard Lazzara.

About the same time on Friday, Rodney Philon, a former Pasco jail deputy who has been linked to Riggans, will be sentenced in a separate case for illegal possession of an anabolic steroid. Philon, 38, faces up to five years in prison.

Riggans has agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute hydrocodone and also to possession of a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime. He faces a minimum of five years in prison.

Federal prosecutors say that Riggans and two other men conspired to distribute hydrocodone. Robert "Fat Bob" Caddick, 52, of Oviedo, worked as chief executive officer of a pharmacy called Medipharm. Investigators said Caddick used his connections to steal prescription drugs, including hydrocodone and Xanax. Kevin Massimino, 32, of Tampa, put the pills in circulation on the street, authorities said.

Prosecutors said Philon knew about their plan, and they charged him in a separate indictment with illegal distribution of the anabolic steroid Dianabol. Federal charges were filed against all four men in March.

Massimino is scheduled to plead guilty Friday along with Riggans. Caddick signed a guilty plea agreement last month.

-Kevin Graham, Times staff writer