UPS employee arrested for stealing prescription medications from packages

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Jeffrey Jacob Roland, 47, was arrested yesterday and charged with four counts of grand theft of a controlled substance and three counts of possession of a controlled substance after allegedly taking prescription medications from packages he was sorting for UPS.

A Gainesville Police Department officer responded to the UPS facility at 1941 NW 67th Place after another employee reported that Roland appeared to be stealing items from packages.

Roland has worked for UPS as a package sorter since 2022, and the other employee told the officer that he was informed on July 28 that Roland was stealing from customer packages. The employee reviewed video surveillance footage from July 27 and reportedly saw “inconsistent and suspicious” actions including moving packages to another area of his workspace.

The employee showed the officer video footage that showed Roland apparently tampering with packages before intentionally spilling a soft drink on the floor nearby. The video then showed Roland gathering up items from the packages along with the paper towels used to clean up the spill, then placing all of it in a trash can and pushing the items to the bottom of the can.

Employees searched the trash can and reportedly found a package with acetaminophen/butalbital/caffeine pills and two empty packages with inserts showing they had contained hydrocodone and oxycodone pills; the medications that had been shipped in a third empty package were unidentified because the paperwork was missing.

Another segment of video footage from July 31 reportedly showed Roland moving packages around his work area and placing unknown items into a shopping bag, then twisting the top of the bag closed. Before Roland left, he reportedly took a large sorting bag and dropped its contents into a trash can, again apparently trying to push them to the bottom; he then left with the shopping bag. A search of the trash can reportedly produced empty packages with paperwork showing they had contained oxycodone and lorazepam pills.

Roland has four felony convictions (none violent) and 11 misdemeanor convictions (two violent). He served one state prison sentence for grand theft and was released in 2005. Judge Walter Green set bail at $5,000 per charge, or $35,000.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.