Racine woman charged with bringing drugs into prison, resulting in overdoses

CHIPPEWA FALLS — A Racine woman has been charged with bringing drugs into a prison, causing three inmates to overdose and be rushed to a hospital.

Christie M. Wozniak, 30, was charged in Chippewa County Court with delivering illegal articles to an inmate. Wozniak is slated to appear in court June 11 before Judge Steve Gibbs.

According to the criminal complaint, three inmates in the Chippewa Valley Correctional Treatment Facility in Chippewa Falls had a medical emergency on Dec. 2, 2022, due to ingesting an illegal drug. One of the inmates was unresponsive and was given two doses of Narcan. The other was “described as blue in color.” An employee gave him the Heimlich maneuver until he returned to normal skin color.

“All three inmates were transported to St. Joseph’s Hospital for an evaluation,” the criminal complaint reads.

During the investigation, one of the inmates stated he got “suboxone strips” from another inmate, who also overdosed.

Officers reviewed footage from a recent prison visitation, where a woman, identified later as Wozniak, played cards with the inmate, and in the process, apparently passed him some drugs.

The inmate interviewed Wozniak had passed him the Percocet pills and “the reason why he overdosed was he suspected they possibly contained fentanyl.”

He admitted that Wozniak had brought him pills in the past.

An investigator contacted Wozniak, who claimed at first she “didn’t recall” passing the drugs, but later admitted to passing a handful of them. She was not aware that it had resulted in overdoses that did not result in a death. The inmate was later transferred to the Stanley Correctional Institution, and she is now under a no-contact order with him.

Court records show Wozniak has no prior criminal record in Wisconsin.