HANCOCK COUNTY — She was using the post office to ingeniously smuggle drugs to inmates in the county jail, law enforcement officials said. Now, a woman is facing several felony trafficking and drug dealing charges.
Breann Perkins, 23, 4000 block of West Quail Run, New Palestine, has been arrested and charged with three Level 5 felony counts of trafficking with an inmate; two Level 6 felony counts of dealing a scheduled III substance, and a Class A misdemeanor count of possession of a scheduled I, II, III, IV or V substance.
Perkins made her initial appearance Monday, Dec. 9, in Hancock County Superior Court 1 in front of Judge Terry Snow. She was arrested on Friday, Dec. 6. A preliminary not-guilty plea was entered on her behalf, and a $3,000 cash bond was set after a public defender was appointed.
According to a probable cause affidavit, Keith Oliver, the county’s jail commander, informed investigators with the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department that suspected narcotics were sent to jail inmates through the mail on two occasions in October.
The incidents were discovered through a standard mail search when an officer at the jail opened a package that was sent from an Indianapolis address. The package was addressed to inmate Brandon Emberton, the affidavit said.
In the package were seven pictures the jailer suspected had been tampered with, the affidavit said. The officer noted “the pictures were thicker and heavier than normal pictures.” In the corner of the pictures, between layers of paper that appeared to have been carefully peeled apart, there were small orange strips with the marking “8N,” the affidavit said. The strips were identified as containing Buphrenorphine, which is an opioid.
The second incident involved a letter from Indianapolis sent to inmate Grant Hoefener, the affidavit said. It contained some of the same photographs. The affidavit indicates that when the official removed the pictures from an envelope, small, crushed particles were falling from the pictures. The officer suspected the substance to be pulverized Suboxone pills, the affidavit said.
Suboxone is similar to Buphrenorphine; both are used to treat opioid addiction but also can be abused.
After listening to phone conversations involving Emberton, officials were able to identify a phone number associated with the calls as belonging to Perkins, the affidavit said. The calls detailed a male inmate asking Perkins to pick up a prescription for medicated strips, the affidavit said.
The report says the inmate instructed Perkins how to peel a photo apart and place the strips inside. The male on the phone told Perkins if she would do this, he would give her $500 by the end of the week.
In a call made Sunday, Oct. 15, Perkins advised the inmate she was sending the mail out but was concerned because the strips inside the photos were “easily visible when held up to the light,” the affidavit said.
Law enforcement noted numerous calls between Oct. 14 and Oct. 25 during which the male and Perkins discussed sending narcotics, the affidavit said.
The inmates named as making the calls to Perkins were Emberton, Kaleb Kennedy and Matt Norman, the affidavit said.
When interviewed, Perkins acknowledged she sent the strips to the jail the first time, and the second time sent she sent crushed pills. She also told officers, according to the affidavit, she was afraid if she didn’t comply and send the drugs, she was fearful the inmate she was mostly talking to, Norman, would retaliate against her when he got out of jail.
Perkins advised officials she sent packages containing narcotics to inmates Hoefener and Emberton at the request of Norman, the affidavit said. She also told police she picked up two of Hoefener’s prescriptions from the CVS at Thompson Road and Arlington Avenue in Indianapolis.
Video from the jail backs up details of the phone calls as to who she was talking with, the affidavit said. Perkins is scheduled to be in court again Jan. 29 for a pretrial conference.
The investigation is continuing, and officials did not rule out more charges. All of the inmates reportedly involved in the scheme remain in jail on other charges.
