Former Fairfax County Sheriff’s deputy sentenced to prison for conspiring with inmate to traffic drugs in jail, sex trafficking

FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. — A former sheriff's deputy will spend more than six years in prison for conspiring with an inmate to distribute drugs and other contraband at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center (Fairfax ADC). Additionally, the former law enforcement officer took bribes and helped sexually traffic women out of an apartment he rented for what officials say was "his own financial gain and sexual gratification." 

Robert Theodore Sanford Jr., 37, worked as a correctional officer at Fairfax ADC from May 2021 to June 2023. 

Starting in December 2022, officials say Sanford smuggled contraband into the detention center and provided an inmate with confidential information, including advance warning of cell searches, cell blocks to which deputies were proceeding in those searches, whether deputies would be conducting strip searches, and where drug-sniffing dogs were being utilized.

According to court documents, the inmate was Javonte Smallwood. Smallwood was serving an 18-year sentence in the ADC for unrelated fraud and robbery charges. The Fairfax County Sheriff's Office told WUSA9 that Smallwood died earlier this year. 

Sanford would also tip Smallwood off with information about other inmates, including which inmates might be providing information to law enforcement, which assisted Sanford’s co-conspirator in intimidating potential witnesses.

"Robert Sanford violated his oath as a sworn law enforcement officer by distributing contraband, drugs, and confidential information to inmates, who then trafficked the drugs into the detention center,” said David Geist, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office Criminal and Cyber Division. “Additionally, he placed the lives of inmates and his law enforcement peers in danger. Sanford threatened the security of the community and abused the public trust."

The operation continued into May 2023. Smuggled contraband included a cell phone and distribution quantities of fentanyl, cocaine, and Suboxone. Additionally, Sanford supplied latex gloves and glue to Smallwood to help conceal the contraband. Smallwood then trafficked the drugs to others in custody at the detention center.

Outside of the detention center, Sanford obtained drugs from Smallwood's associates. He would smuggle them into Fairfax ADC and give them to women who lived in and prostituted themselves out of an apartment Sanford leased. 

“Robert Sanford preyed on the vulnerabilities of people in his care,” said Jessica D. Aber, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “His corruption didn’t stop with profiting from feeding the addictions of inmates in his charge. Rather than assisting homeless and addicted members of his community, Sanford used drugs to entrap them in a life of prostitution for his own gain.”

While Sanford had previously tipped off his co-conspirator, Smallwood was strip-searched on May 4, 2023. During the search, deputies found a cellphone, two charging cables, one portable cellular phone charger, one USB charging brick, 92 counterfeit oxycodone pills, 174 strips of Suboxone, and over three grams of cocaine in his long underwear. 

The next day, Sanford learned of the seizure during roll call and removed his name and personal email address from a CashApp account he used to receive the bribe payments. He stopped communicating with the Smallwood and other co-conspirators, while also deleting old messages. 

Within the following two weeks, Sanford tried to quit his correctional officer position and lied to officials, saying he needed to resign due to childcare challenges.