School security officer: Drug bust nabs South Plantation High employee

A veteran South Plantation High School security specialist remained in the Hillsborough County jail Thursday after he was nabbed in a midnight police sting that capped a two-week investigation into the Tampa area drug trade. Thomas W. Snell Jr., 37, employed at the school since August 2000, was charged Tuesday with conspiracy to traffic in cocaine. He is being held in the Hillsborough County jail in lieu of $50,000 bond. If convicted, Snell could face up to 15 years in prison. The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office said Snell, of Lauderdale Lakes, and three other men were arrested after they showed up to buy a kilogram of cocaine for $34,000. The bust took place just after midnight Tuesday near a small strip shopping center on East Busch Boulevard in Tampa. The operation was headed by the sheriff's major violators unit and joined by the Tampa Police Department.