An Albuquerque man has been charged with bringing fentanyl into the San Juan County Detention Center and trafficking the illicit drug.
This is the third case of fentanyl being found in the jail that the Tri-City Record has learned of in the past four months.
Jeremiah Wright, 39, is the third person to have allegedly smuggled fentanyl into the jail and then shared it with or sold it to other detainees.
Wright was charged July 23 with a second-degree felony trafficking a controlled substance and two fourth-degree felony charges of possession of a controlled substance and bringing contraband into jail.
Sarah Giles, 35, of Farmington, was charged March 13, with bringing contraband into the jail, which then reportedly caused seven women in her pod to overdose on the substance, according to the affidavit for arrest warrant.
However, on May 29, the San Juan County District Attorney’s Office dismissed the charges against Giles.
Bonnie Lake, 43, of Bloomfield was charged June 3, with two counts of trafficking a controlled substance and one count of bringing contraband into the jail. This allegedly caused three jail guards and five detainees to overdose on fentanyl.
Lake was arraigned July 13 and entered a plea of not guilty.
Wright has not been arraigned but appeared in front of 11th Judicial District Judge Curtis Gurley on Monday for a probation violation.
His defense attorney Tyson Quail denied his client violated probation, and a hearing was set for 1:30 p.m. Sept. 28 in front of Judge Gurley.
Wright allegedly violated probation by bringing fentanyl into the San Juan County Detention Center.
The San Juan County Sheriff’s Office was alerted to the drugs being in the jail by another detainee, who wrote a letter to jail staff requesting confidentiality and stating that “J. Wright has drugs on him and is selling them in the facility,” according to the affidavit for arrest warrant.
Sheriff’s Office investigators reviewed a body scan taken of Wright when he was booked July 14 into the jail. The scan showed something “raised” in between Wright’s “pant line and the bottom of Jeremiah’s buttock’s,” the affidavit said.
A detention center captain told investigators that “things that are raised on body scan are some sort of contraband.”
However, Wright was allowed into the detention center despite the “anomaly.” A review of camera footage at a later time reportedly showed a pouch of blue pills falling out of his pants, according to the affidavit.
When sheriff’s investigators questioned Wright, he reportedly told them he had been to prison and was “not going to play this game” and refused to talk about the pouch, the affidavit said
Jail employees did take possession of the pouch, which was turned over to investigators.
The affidavit said fentanyl, methamphetamine and suboxone strips reportedly were found inside the pouch.
A preliminary examination for these charges has been set at 8:30 a.m. Aug. 20 in Aztec Magistrate Court.