Letters sent to jail had drugs hidden behind the postage stamps, NC sheriff says
Letters sent to a prison in North Carolina were carting drugs — but not in envelopes, according to the sheriff’s office.
Opioids were hidden behind the postage stamps on letters sent to four inmates at Bladen County Detention Center in Elizabethtown, the Bladen Journal reported.
The substances were buprenorphine and naloxone, which treat opioid dependency and can reverse overdoses but are “routinely abused,” according to WECT.
The letters were sent between Feb. 28 and March 4, the Fayetteville Observer reported.
The Bladen County Sheriff’s Office charged 30-year-old Zikee Demitrious Thomas, 23-year-old Logan A. Sykes, 27-year-old Robert Diquan Phillips Jr. and 33-year-old Justin Erin Andrews with conspiracy to sell and deliver a controlled substance, according to the newspaper.
Sykes was also charged with possession with intent to sell and deliver a controlled substance; and possession of drug paraphernalia, the Fayetteville Observer reported.
Their bonds were set between $5,000 and $250,000.
A fifth person, 33-year-old Angela Christine Darby, was also charged with conspiracy to sell and deliver a controlled substance, WECT reported.
According to the Bladen Journal, Darby was not in custody when the letters were sent and had not been arrested as of Monday afternoon.
Anyone with information on her location is asked to call the Bladen County Sheriff’s Office at 910-862-6960, WECT reported.
This story was originally published March 9, 2020 at 6:07 PM with the headline "Letters sent to jail had drugs hidden behind the postage stamps, NC sheriff says."
