Current, former Wayne County deputy face federal fraud, drug charges

A current and a former Wayne County Sheriff's deputy face federal charges tonight following a months-long investigation.

Major Chris Worth and Mike Cox are both charged with 12 counts of fraud for bid rigging to award sheriff's office contracts to Cox's business. Worth worked with the office and he's now on leave without pay.

A submitted photo showed Cox being arrested outside his Wayne County business on Tuesday. He also faces charges for conspiring with multiple drug traffickers to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute cocaine and oxycodone and two counts of making false statements to the FBI.

Cox was employed by the WCSO from 1996 until he retired as the head of the Drug Unit in 2018. Worth joined the sheriff's office in 1993 and currently serves as a Major overseeing all of the office's criminal enforcement sections and support services.