SUZANNE MCLAUGHLIN, The Republican
NORTHAMPTON (AP) — Former Ludlow Police Lt. Thomas Foye said drug addiction arising from a hip operation stripped him of his identity and dignity after a 26-year career in law enforcement.
Foye is serving a two-year term in the Hampshire County House of Correction following his conviction for stealing drugs from the evidence room at the Ludlow Police Department.
“I would have rather died in the line of duty with my dignity” saving someone than to have been arrested for tampering with evidence, he said during a jailhouse interview in Northampton.
“I went from being a hero to being a drug addict,” he said.
During a career highlighted with commendations and awards, he had been the head of the Detective Bureau and the K-9 unit and served on a FBI Task Force and the School Committee. He helped the community as a coach. As the town DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) officer, Foye spoke to parents and teens about the growing prescription drug abuse problem.
“I had a good life,” he said. He said he had made good choices and he and his wife had brought their three daughters up well.
Foye first had a prescription for OxyContin when he had surgery for a torn rotator cuff in his shoulder. He said it alleviated the pain and gave him “a euphoric feeling.”
He said he recognized the potency of the drug, but was able to get off it. The same scenario occurred when he had the other rotator cuff operated on.
A couple years later he had pain in his hip and was putting off a hip replacement. He said he started “borrowing pills” so he could stay in work.
He had the hip replacement in 2012, and by then he had a drug tolerance, he said. He was given a prescription of Dilaudid, which is stronger than morphine.
He realized he was having trouble “stepping down” from the pills. He finally went “cold turkey” on the pills and was sick in bed for four days “with sweats, vomiting, shakes and nightmares.”
When back on light duty work in the Detective Bureau he would occasionally take “one pill” for soreness, he said. That became a problem.
“At first you make choices, and you fear withdrawals,” he said. “Then you fall over the cliff, and there is no escape until you hit rock bottom. When you are in midair, it is too late,” he said.
“You have to hit rock bottom or be rescued.”
Court documents said a video feed captured Foye entering a locked narcotics locker at the Ludlow Police Station, where he appears to manipulate and open evidence bags. He was lieutenant at the time and had said he was planning to apply for the chief’s job.
Foye said he first felt a sense of relief when he was arrested. He said he had feared he would either overdose or have a stroke.
Foye pleaded guilty in October 2014 to tampering with substances, two counts of possession of a class B substance (cocaine and OxyContin) and two counts of larceny of a drug. More than 50 supporters, including members of the Ludlow police, School Board and Board of Selectmen and a retired FBI agent squeezed into the Hampden Superior courtroom to ask the judge to show Foye leniency.
He said he went through a detox program after he was arrested and is in a 12-step recovery program. He said he has been clean and sober nearly two years.
“I am a drug addict,” he said. “I will be in recovery for the rest of my life.”
Foye said he is progressing through the security levels at the Hampshire County House of Correction and is fortunate to have been able to get a day job at a metal shop in Northampton. He is driven to and from the job and is back at the House of Correction at night.
“I am getting along fine,” he said. “The hard part is being away from my family.”
Foye said he once thought that beating addiction was a matter of self-discipline. Now he says, “Addiction chooses you.” He said he has empathy for addicts and understands the frustrations of their families. “You can’t scare this disease out of someone.”
As a convicted felon he can never serve in law enforcement again. Instead he has taken a course to be an addiction counselor.
“I want to help eliminate the stigma around addiction,” he said, “by helping other addicts.” Opioid addiction through prescription pills to alleviate pain has become a suburban problem, he said.
Foye said he hopes that after he is released from prison, “Something good will come out of this.”
“I had a good life, and I want to get back to it,” he said.
