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Fired Hillsborough sheriff’s major drank before work ‘to take the edge off,’ records show
On April 8, three deputies with the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office Motor Unit were at the agency’s garage when they smelled alcohol on Maj. Troy Morgan’s breath.
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Fired Hillsborough sheriff’s major drank before work ‘to take the edge off,’ records show
On April 8, three deputies with the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office Motor Unit were at the agency’s garage when they smelled alcohol on Maj. Troy Morgan’s breath.
Fired Hillsborough sheriff’s major drank before work ‘to take the edge off,’ records show
Tony Marrero, Times staffUpdated Thu, May 14, 2026 at 4:29 PM EDT
5 min read
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A screenshot of a Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office Facebook post on Feb. 18 shows Maj. Troy Morgan, left, and Sheriff Chad Chronister during a promotion ceremony that day. Before he was fired last month for being under the influence of alcohol on the job, Morgan had a blood alcohol level above the legal limit to drive and told his bosses he’d drunk vodka before work to deal with stress, records show.
On April 8, three deputies with the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office Motor Unit were at the agency’s garage when they smelled alcohol on Maj. Troy Morgan’s breath.
Morgan, a 32-year veteran of the sheriff’s office and a member of Sheriff Chad Chronister’s command staff, showed “signs of possible alcohol impairment,” including glassy eyes, according to records obtained Thursday by the Tampa Bay Times.
Morgan told superiors that he’d had vodka before work that morning to deal with stress and “take the edge off,” and he agreed to provide a breath sample to gauge if he had any alcohol in his system, the records show.
At 2:44 p.m., his breath showed his blood alcohol level to be 0.125. A second sample given about 20 minutes later showed a level of 0.143, according to the memos.
Morgan was fired a short time later. The next day, superiors found an open bottle of whiskey in his patrol vehicle.
The records shed more light on an episode that the sheriff’s office said little about at the time. The day after Morgan’s termination, the sheriff’s office said in a brief news release that an internal administrative review found that Morgan violated agency policy for being under the influence of alcohol on duty, and he was immediately terminated. The release said the agency would not be releasing more details, “as this is a personnel matter.”
The records do not say how Morgan got to work that morning or that he had been drinking while driving before he was terminated. A spokesperson previously told the Times that Morgan was not arrested for DUI because no one saw him operating any vehicles while he was intoxicated.
Morgan has not previously commented publicly on his firing. Reached by phone Thursday, he asked a Times reporter the reason for writing another story and then hung up a moment later.
The review began about 1:30 p.m. on April 8, when Col. David Arthur received a call from a captain who said several deputies “noticed signs of possible alcohol impairment” during their interactions with Morgan at the agency’s garage, according to a memo Arthur wrote summarizing his part in the internal review.
Chief Deputy Joseph Maurer told Arthur to talk to Morgan along with another colonel, Preston Hollis, to determine if the accusations were valid.
Arthur and Hollis went to Morgan’s office.
“Major Morgan did admit to consuming alcohol ‘earlier in the day’ and he does so to help with the stress,” Arthur wrote. “Major Morgan stated he usually drinks vodka with water and lime.”
Morgan “admitted to having an alcohol problem and was very apologetic about his actions,” Arthur wrote.
Hollis also wrote a summary memo. It states that he hugged Morgan to see if he could smell alcohol. The odor was faint, but his eyes were glassy, Hollis wrote. Morgan admitted to drinking “a lot” the previous night and that morning but “denied drinking at work or recently.”
Hollis asked Morgan if he would blow “0.000″ if given a breath test. Morgan replied that he wasn’t sure what he would blow, “as there may be some residual from his drinking last night and this morning.” He had a drink of vodka, water and lime that morning to “take the edge off” but couldn’t recall the time — only that it was still dark, Hollis’ memo states.
“He indicated that he had been under a lot of stress with work and balancing his responsibilities,” Hollis wrote.
Morgan agreed to go to the agency’s occupational health center to provide a breath sample.
After the test, Hollis drove Morgan to the parking lot behind the agency’s Traffic Bureau, where Undersheriff Tommy St. John terminated his employment.
The next morning, Arthur and a sheriff’s office lieutenant searched Morgan’s patrol vehicle. They found in the center console a black plastic shopping bag containing a bottle of Jack Daniels Tennessee Fire Whiskey. It was about three-quarters full, according to Arthur’s memo.
In a prepared statement included in the April 9 news release, Chronister said Morgan “dedicated many years of service to this organization, and this outcome is not one we ever want to see.
“But the expectations we place on our employees are clear,” Chronister said. “We are entrusted by this community to serve with integrity, sound judgment, and professionalism at all times. When those standards are not met, we must take decisive action. We also recognize that situations like this can involve personal struggles, and we hope he gets the help he needs.”
Chronister on Thursday provided a one-line statement through a spokesperson after learning the Times was working on a follow-up story.
“My hope is that the Tampa Bay Times would stop writing stories that provide zero value about a commander who served this community with distinction for many years, so that he can focus on getting the help he needs for his disease,” Chronister said.
Chronister promoted Morgan to major in February. In the role, Morgan was commander of the Traffic Services Division, which includes DUI deputies, traffic crash investigators, the motor unit, the drug interdiction unit and all camera enforcement programs, among other areas of the office.
In April 2025, when Morgan was still a captain, he received a glowing evaluation from Maj. Christopher Baumann, who rated Morgan as “exceeding expectations” and called him “unwavering in his dedication and commitment to this agency.”
“The successes he has experienced can be attributed to his leadership, maturity, and willingness to remain steadfast in his convictions, ethics, and morals,” Baumann wrote. “Captain Morgan has a genuine passion for people and the success of this agency.”