An accused drug dealer has told federal authorities he began supplying pain pills to then-Whitley County Sheriff Lawrence Hodge about December 2009, according to a sworn statement filed in federal court.

The accused dealer, James "Jeremy" Meradith, also said Hodge traded him a police shotgun for three oxydocone pills in December 2010, shortly before leaving office, according to the affidavit by Todd E. Tremaine, a special agent with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Hodge, however, said in a telephone interview that he doesn't know Meradith, had never gotten pills from him and does not abuse drugs.