A Bloomfield woman who worked as a home healthcare aide has been charged with 56 felonies including bringing fentanyl into the San Juan County Detention Center.
The Tri-City Record learned from an Inspection of Public Records Act request that Bonnie Lake, 43, is charged with 23 counts of third-degree felony forgery; 22 counts of felony issuing a worthless check; identity theft; two counts of unlawful taking of a motor vehicle; conspiracy to commit larceny; conspiracy to commit residential burglary; conspiracy to commit breaking and entering; two counts of trafficking a controlled substance; and one count of bringing contraband into the jail.
The charges are in connection to a three-month crime spree that began in March after Lake lost her job as a home healthcare aide caring for a man with Alzheimer’s.
Lake’s reported crimes continued into May when she allegedly brought fentanyl into the San Juan County Detention Center, causing five detainees and three jail guards to overdose on the substance, according to a report from the detention center.
Lake reportedly told San Juan County Sheriff’s Office investigators that she “fell into heavy narcotics use” after her mother died, and the majority of her criminal activity was tied to her drug use, according to an affidavit for arrest warrant charging Lake with three counts of conspiracy.
While Lake was caring for the elderly man, she reportedly stole his checkbook and in April used it to write 23 fraudulent checks to herself in the amount of $18,300, the affidavit said.
Lake reportedly told investigators “that she forged (the man’s) signature on every single check she wrote and attempted to mobile deposit them into her Sunward account,” the affidavit said.
The affidavit also said Lake admitted to investigators that “she was going through a point of severe addiction to fentanyl pills.”
Not long after Lake lost her job, she reportedly stole the man’s 2006 F350 pickup truck after she allegedly sent text messages to the man’s family saying “she was ‘going to get them back’” for firing her, according to an affidavit for arrest warrant charging her with unlawful taking of a motor vehicle.
Lake reportedly conspired with two individuals identified in the affidavit as “Marcus” and “Dewayne” to steal four Craftsman toolboxes, two air compressors and a generator from the garage, when she allegedly took the truck.
Sheriff’s investigators recovered the F350 on May 4 and reportedly found “226.9g TGW suspected methamphetamine, suspected fentanyl powder, fentanyl pills and miscellaneous pills” inside it, according to the affidavit for arrest warrant.
Lake was taken into custody on May 4, and during a pre-booking body image scan there was a “discoloration” in her body cavity, according to the affidavit, which said “three separate images were taken” and all showed the “abnormality.”
However, Lake was placed in Pod C4 with other detainees.
One of the detainees told an investigator that May 6, Lake “retrieved” a “small rock wrapped in saran wrap” from her pants and offered it to four other detainees, according to the affidavit for arrest warrant.
All four detainees, including Lake, overdosed on the drug and had to receive medical treatment.
When the jail guards searched the pod, they reportedly found 16.66 TGW of fentanyl on one of the bunks. Those three guards also overdosed and needed medical treatment, according to the affidavit.
“Lake placed multiple detainees and correctional officers in danger when she made the decision to bring a highly dangerous drug (fentanyl) into the San Juan County Adult Detention Center,” said the affidavit charging her two counts of trafficking a controlled substance and one count of bringing contraband into the jail.
Lake was released from custody on May 8, and warrant for her arrest was issued on June 3. She had not been arrested as of yet.
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