The Kern County Sheriff’s Office has fired a Lerdo Pre-Trial Facility jailer after drugs and paraphernalia were found inside his home.

Sheriff Donny Youngblood said investigators were ordered to search Anthony Cercone residence after traces of methamphetamine were discovered in an employees-only restroom early Tuesday.

“The employees at Lerdo told the detectives who they thought the last employee would have been to use that private restroom,” he said. “Detectives then responded to the house.”

Cercone had been a sheriff’s detentions deputy for nearly eight years. It is not believed Cercone had been selling the drugs to inmates, Youngblood said.

– Anthony Pollreisz