Former deputy out on bail now faces DUI charge

In print: Saturday, March 29, 2008

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ADVERTISEMENT Stuart Wesley Bell, 34, goes to trial May 8 on prescription drug charges.

TAMPA — A former Hillsborough County sheriff's deputy who is out on bail while awaiting trial on drug charges was charged early Friday with driving under the influence.

Stuart Wesley Bell, 34, already faces charges of fraudulently obtaining prescription drugs.

At 4 a.m., Hillsborough County sheriff's deputies arrested Bell at Leonard Drive and Wood Road. Jail records show Bell's blood-alcohol level measured at least 0.10. State law presumes a driver is impaired if his blood-alcohol is 0.08 or more.

Bell was taken to the Orient Road Jail, where he posted a $500 bail and was released.

The former deputy was the subject of an internal sheriff's investigation in January into allegations that while serving as a backup to another deputy, he stole about $100 worth of the prescription drug oxycodone from a suspect's house.

Bell was charged with petty theft, tampering with physical evidence and obtaining a controlled substance from multiple physicians, or "doctor shopping."

County records show he is scheduled to appear in Circuit Court on May 8 on the doctor-shopping charges.