LOCAL : Ex-Deputy Faces Drug Charges

A former sheriff’s deputy convicted of money-laundering along with six other lawmen in a drug-cash skimming scandal attempted to buy and sell cocaine to make money during the trial, authorities said today.

Macario Duran, a former member of a sheriff’s elite narcotics unit, was arrested Feb. 8 on suspicion of attempting to orchestrate at least two drug deals, said Jay Van Kirk, an agent with the Internal Revenue Service. Agents took Duran into custody at a Norwalk trucking firm where he was working as a security guard, Van Kirk said.

As a result of the new allegations, prosecutors said they want to hold Duran without bail pending the outcome of a tax-related case against him, his wife and her mother.

New charges have yet to be filed against Duran.