Broward sheriff's detective suspended after his grand theft arrest

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - The Broward County Sheriff's Office has suspended an award-winning detective without pay after his arrest Tuesday on a grand theft charge accusing him of secretly pocketing $1,220 seized during a drug bust.

A sheriff's Internal Affairs investigation concluded that Detective Albury Augustus Burrows, 40, who has served the agency for nearly 11 years, was the only person who could have stolen money last year from a Pompano Beach apartment where marijuana plants were being grown.

Burrows was taken into custody after being summoned late Tuesday to the sheriff's Internal Affairs office, officials said. He was freed from jail early Wednesday after posting $1,000 bail.

Burrows is one of Pompano Beach nine deputies awarded the Gold Cross in March for heroism.

He was the officer in charge of the sheriff's Selective Enforcement Team -- which typically targets such crimes as street corner drug sales, prostitution, burglary and loitering and prowling -- when the group shut down an apartment with marijuana plants Dec. 9.

According to a sheriff's complaint affidavit:

After a property manager found the plants at the apartment, deputies arrived and arrested two tenants, one by one, when the tenants separately returned home. The tenants were taken to a sheriff's station.

One deputy at the apartment phoned Burrows, telling him that a "large sum" of money had been confiscated from a tenant. Burrows instructed the deputy to leave the money inside the apartment and wait for additional sheriff's team members to arrive.

As two deputies waited, they counted the money three times, confirming there was $2,452.

Burrows arrived at the apartment and instructed team members to go to lunch, the affidavit said. Deputies offered to help Burrows at the site, but he "refused all assistance from his team," the affidavit said.

Burrows then stayed alone at the apartment for an unspecified amount of time.

When a sergeant later arrived, Burrows unlocked the door and both of them entered the apartment. Burrows and the sergeant counted the money, finding a total of $1,232.

A sheriff's investigation concluded Burrows was the only person who had "the means or the opportunity" to steal the missing $1,220, when he was left alone with the key to Apartment 104.

During that time, "Burrows was the sole person at the scene and thus the only person with access to Apartment 104 and the money," the affidavit said.

Staff Researcher Barbara Hijek contributed to this report. 

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