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Unified Fire Assistant Chief facing prescription drug fraud charges

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SALT LAKE CITY - An assistant chief with the Unified Fire Authority is facing multiple counts of prescription drug fraud.

It began as a theft investigation, but has grown into a larger drug fraud case. Detectives say it appears Marlon Jones was addicted to pain pills, muscle relaxers and sleep aids, and that he'd been forging scripts to illegally obtain hundreds, possibly thousands of pills for at least a year.

Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said they've filed 14 counts of prescription fraud against Jones.

His name came up after Cottonwood Heights Police started looking into thefts at UFA firehouses. Detectives learned he'd been filling scripts for sleep aids, muscle relaxers, and the painkiller Oxycodone for more than a year. It appears Jones obtained hundreds of pills through three different doctors.

Jones is on paid administrative leave. He has been employed with UFA for the past 24 years. He will eventually have to surrender to the Salt Lake County Jail.