A Pulaski County jail officer pleaded innocent to charges Monday connected to the smuggling of contraband into the facility on three occasions this month.
Deputies arrested Demon Tate, 37, about 6:15 a.m. Saturday while he was on duty at the jail. A search yielded 22 pills, plastic baggies, a yellow liquid "believed to be an unauthorized cleaning chemical" and a metal fork, according to an arrest report. For safety reasons, only plastic utensils are allowed at the jail.
According to the arrest report, the pills were schedule II and schedule IV drugs.
The Drug Enforcement Administration defines schedule II drugs as substances with a high potential for abuse that may also lead to severe psychological and physical dependence. Oxycodone and Adderall are in the category. Schedule IV drugs, which include Xanax and Valium, have a low potential for abuse and dependence, according to the DEA.
Deputies also found a bottle of Blunt Effects concentrated air freshener, the report states. The spray is commonly sold at smoke shops and is advertised on the manufacturer's website for use "when you need to clear the air ... fast."
Tate was charged with possession of a controlled substance with purpose to deliver, possession of drug paraphernalia and three counts of furnishing prohibited articles, a felony. Court records show three dates when the purported offenses occurred: March 28, March 26 and March 18.
Under Arkansas law, a person does not have to deliver a banned item to an inmate to be charged with furnishing prohibited articles. Simply taking a banned item to a correctional facility, state hospital or youth services program is a criminal offense.
Tate appeared Monday morning in Pulaski County District Court and pleaded innocent to the charges. He was later released from the jail on $5,000 bond.
Pulaski County sheriff's spokesman Capt. Carl Minden said Tate was held in protective custody at the jail after his arrest. Minden said an investigation has been ongoing for more than a month, the details of which he could not discuss.
Tate, of Sherwood, began working at the jail in April 2011. He was still employed there late Monday and faced a disciplinary hearing "in the next couple days," Minden said.
"Obviously, he's looking at termination," he said.
The sheriff's office did not release further details of Tate's employment Monday, citing the ongoing investigation.
Jailers are subject to random pat down searches when they arrive for work, according to Minden. They also must pass through a metal detector. Bags and purses are subject to search, as well.
Those measures haven't stopped employees from taking contraband into the facility in the past.
Most recently, former jailer Whitney Jackson admitted in October 2012 to providing inmates with marijuana, hydrocodone, methamphetamine and tobacco after an investigation led to her arrest. Jackson coordinated with an inmate to smuggle the drugs, according to the sheriff's office. She negotiated a guilty plea to a charge of criminal conspiracy in April 2013 and was sentenced to five years of probation.
Minden said that as jailers and inmates become more familiar with the facility, they may "figure out gaps in the protocol and how to kind of work the system."
"You'll figure out who's lax, who's not lax, when you can get in and out," he said. "You push the envelope. Unfortunately, it's not the first time it's happened. That's part of the nature of running a correctional facility, that contraband is going to try to get in the facility. Or in some cases, out. And that's a bad part of the process, but it's there and you just got to try to catch it."
Minden said that because inmates don't have access to cash -- commissary items, such as toiletries, snacks and phone cards being the primary currency -- smugglers are sometimes compensated by people on the outside.
"That's what you've got to ask yourself, 'How is he getting paid?' ... And I'm sure that's something our investigators are looking into, what type of payment are you getting. Because if you're passing out pills, you're not doing it for a bag of chips," Minden said.
Court records show that Tate was arrested Feb. 12 and charged with possession of a controlled substance. He pleaded innocent in that case March 17.
Minden said he was unaware of Tate's February arrest.
Details of that arrest were unavailable. The Pulaski County District Court on Monday would not release filings that the Democrat-Gazette requested under the state's Freedom of Information Act.
Employees cited the need for a supervisor who was reportedly out of town to approve the documents' release and redactions. They referred a reporter to another supervisor, deputy court clerk Stacey Tan, who had not returned calls late Monday.
Tate's next court date was set for April 28.
Metro on 03/31/2015