The Justice Department (DOJ) said on Tuesday that three persons are being charged in connection with the death of a federal prison employee in California who passed away earlier this month after handling a box containing drugs that was sent to an inmate at U.S. Penitentiary Atwater.
According to the DOJ, inmates Jamar Jones, 35, Stephanie Ferreira, 35, of Indiana, and Jermen Rudd III, 37, of Missouri, are accused of planning to smuggle drugs into USP Atwater.
According to court records, between July 15 and August 9, Jones and Ferreira reportedly had Rudd mail a package loaded with cocaine that was falsely classified as legitimate mail.
After opening that item on August 9, a USP Atwater prison officer “began to feel ill,” according to the DOJ. The package contained what federal officials characterized as waxy or moist paper.
After assessing the officer, medical personnel hurried him to a hospital, where he passed away. After handling the box, another correctional officer was sick, but he or she recovered, according to the DOJ.
The stuff that the police touched “tested presumptively positive for amphetamines, fentanyl and’spice,’ or synthetic cannabinoids, among other substances,” according to federal officials.
Rudd, Ferreira, and Jones were detained on Tuesday. According to U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert, each has been charged in a criminal complaint with providing narcotic drugs to an inmate at USP Atwater and conspiring to distribute prohibited substances.
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Next week in Fresno, Jones will appear in court for the first time, while Rudd and Ferreira will be charged in the Eastern District of Missouri and the Southern District of Indiana, respectively.
Each defendant is subject to a fine of up to $250,000 in addition to 20 to 30 years in jail.
