Wednesday, December 29, 1999
Indictment: Drugs put in prison coffee
BY SHEILA McLAUGHLIN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
LEBANON — A Dayton, Ohio, woman is accused of sharing more than a cup of java with an inmate during a visit last month to the Warren Correctional Institution.
Authorities say Angela Dickard spiked the coffee with drug-laden balloons in an attempt to smuggle crack cocaine, marijuana and prescription nerve pills into the state prison.
Ms. Dickard, 22, of the 1600 block of Larchwood Drive, was indicted Tuesday on one felony charge each of illegal conveyance of drugs onto the grounds of a detention facility, possession of cocaine and possession of criminal tools.
Acting on an anonymous tip that Ms. Dickard would try to smuggle drugs into WCI, the prison posted an undercover officer in the inmate visitation room Nov. 20, Warren County Prosecutor Tim Oliver said.
Ms. Dickard made a trip to the restroom and returned with a cup of coffee, which the unnamed inmate began to drink, he said.
“He appeared to have trouble swallowing,” Mr. Oliver said, describing what piqued the officer's suspicion.
Ten balloons containing drugs were recovered, and four of them were in the coffee cup, authorities said. It was unclear Tuesday how many, if any, the inmate swallowed.
Officials with the Ohio State Highway Patrol, the agency charged with investigating alleged crimes at state prisons, said they suspected the inmate might have planned to conceal the drugs and later use them.
Ms. Dickard is to appear for arraignment Jan. 7 in Warren County Common Pleas Court. The charges each carry up to one year in prison.
She was charged immediately after the incident, but was released from jail after posting bail before the case was presented to a Warren County grand jury.
The inmate has not yet been charged, but the incident remains under investigation, patrol Sgt. Gary Lewis said.
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