A police chief in metropolitan Buffalo admitted an addiction to painkillers after his arrest last Friday, reports the Buffalo News. Kenmore Police Chief Peter Breitnauer, 68, also admitted taking pills from a medication drop box at the Kenmore Police Station and saving them for his personal use, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. Prosecutors also said the chief showed FBI agents a closet in his office where he had more than 100 hydrocodone pills originally taken from the box. “It’s a sad day,” U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy Jr. said in a statement. He said the arrest and admissions “highlight the devastating and destructive power of opioids and underscore the fact that anyone can become ensnared in their allure.” Breitnauer was placed on administrative leave. Kenmore is a village of 15,000 people north of Buffalo.
In a separate case, the police chief of Level Plains, Ala., has been suspended without pay after he was arrested last week and charged with four counts of disorderly conduct in Panana City Beach, Fla. Authorities allege that Chief Billy Maurice Driggers, 44, masturbated several times in front of guests, including children and teenage girls, at a beachfront resort, according to the Orlando Sentinel. He was accused of masturbating in front of people on an elevator at least three times. Police said he also masturbated while walking behind teenage girls on the beach and filmed or took photos of the girls rinsing off at outdoor showers. Level Plains is a village of 2,000 in southeast Alabama, 90 miles north of Panama City Beach.