A former Vero Beach police officer who resigned in June – days before he was arrested for illegally disposing of a felony-level amount of marijuana seized during an early-morning traffic stop – voluntarily forfeited his state-issued criminal justice certification last week.
As part of a plea deal, Christian Butterfield, who was hired by the Vero Beach Police Department in October 2023, may no longer work as a law enforcement officer in Florida.
In exchange, prosecutors agreed to dismiss a felony tampering-with-evidence charge and transfer the case to Indian River County Veterans Treatment Court, where the 32-year-old former U.S. Marine pled no-contest to a misdemeanor marijuana-possession offense and agreed to enter a diversion program…