EVERETT — After two fellow inmates overdosed in the Snohomish County Jail, police say an inmate smuggled fentanyl powder behind bars by hiding a baggie in his body.
Corrections deputies revived the two inmates who overdosed, according to the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office. They were taken to the hospital for further treatment.
Last week, investigators determined a 36-year-old man held at the jail may have supplied the drugs, according to the sheriff’s office. He was staying in the same housing area as the inmates who overdosed. The suspect didn’t cooperate with police, so detectives had to turn to a judge to approve a body cavity search warrant.
The judge reportedly approved the warrant, the first in the jail’s history.
The suspect was taken to a medical facility in Monroe for a CT scan, which found a baggie of fentanyl powder in his rectum, the sheriff’s reported Thursday.
After several tries to get the baggie were unsuccessful, the suspect had to be taken to a gastrointestinal specialist in Everett. The specialist performed a short procedure to retrieve the baggie, according to the sheriff’s office.
Police added a charge of prisoner in possession of a controlled substance against the man, a felony. It was unclear what allegations he was being held for in the first place. A sheriff’s office spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
These weren’t the first fentanyl overdoses in the jail this year.
In May, an Arlington man was accused of smuggling fentanyl into the jail, leading to the non-fatal overdoses of seven other inmates.
The following month, prosecutors charged that suspect with three felonies in connection with the accusations he supplied fentanyl in the jail. The case remained active Thursday.
Jake Goldstein-Street: 425-339-3439; jake.goldstein-street@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @GoldsteinStreet.
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