Palm Beach County, Fla., Sheriff Ed Bieluch apologized last week to the five suspended deputies investigators believed were at the heart of a drug ring at the Palm Beach County Jail.

Bieluch said all five have been cleared of any wrongdoing and told them they were cleared to return to duty, possibly as soon as Monday.

"This has been a really horrible experience for them," Bieluch said after meeting individually with the deputies at the sheriff's office. "These are good employees, good people and good citizens. There was no wrongdoing on the part of any of them."

Bieluch's announcement came 34 days after the deputies were placed on paid administrative leave when they became the focus of a criminal investigation and a separate internal affairs investigation.

The criminal investigation fell apart when the central figure and originator of the charges -- jail inmate Willoughby Farr of Gulfstream -- botched the case himself.

Bieluch said the internal affairs investigation should wrap up soon.

Farr, in jail on a slew of charges, approached sheriff's investigators in March with information about a deputy-involved drug ring at the jail.

He worked as an informant for months, recording conversations and even receiving crack cocaine in his jail cell.

But the only tie to the deputies was Farr's own words, and his story fell apart in September, when officials were on the verge of arresting the deputies.

Investigators caught him lying about his information twice, and the lead investigator on the case said Farr's testimony was no longer reliable.

Investigators abandoned criminal charges last month. It all came out during Farr's sentencing last week.

Although Bieluch wouldn't go into specifics regarding the internal affairs investigation, he said he has serious concerns about its handling and emphasized that it led to nothing but unwarranted embarrassment for the five deputies.