Baxter County Sheriff John Montgomery has announced the arrest of a Mountain Home woman following an investigation when it was discovered that there had been an attempt to introduce contraband into the Baxter County Detention Center.
Sixty-year-old Mary V. Ward faces charges of furnishing prohibited articles and criminal conspiracy, both of which are felonies.
At 9 Sunday night, a jailer was making a perimeter check around the outside of the jail when he found a wrapped package of tobacco on the ground near the exterior wall of the jail’s B Pod housing unit. The jailer also heard a noise in the area outside of the fence and saw a person in the bushes. When the jailer called for deputies, the person fled the scene and was not located that night.
Jail supervisors began reviewing video camera footage of the outside area in question. At 5:16 p.m., the cameras had captured a man trying to climb up from the drainage ditch behind the jail and walk up to the fence. After looking around, the person left only to return at 5:21 with a bag, which he tossed over the fence and inside the perimeter of the jail.
After the contraband was discovered, jailers made an inspection of B Pod and discovered that inmates had managed to climb up into the ceiling above the shower room area. The inmates allegedly pushed a broomstick through a small ventilation hole to the outside. Attached to the broom was a twisted line fashioned from plastic trash bags. The purpose of this was to allegedly use the line to “fish” for contraband that the person behind the fence had brought and pull the items back into the jail through the ventilation system.
On Monday, investigators began gathering evidence, including playing back and listening to calls that B Pod inmates had placed over the inmate phone system. Using evidence gathered from those calls, investigators were able to identify the suspects involved. One of those suspects was Ward, whose grandson is housed in the jail’s B Pod.
Montgomery said that evidence indicated that Ward had been intricately involved in arranging the contraband drop and had been an active participant by way of facilitating the incident through telephone communication with her grandson. Montgomery said evidence also indicated that additional drops of other substances were being planned and were to be carried out later.
Ward came to the Sheriff’s Office but refused to answer questions or make a statement. She was arrested Monday evening and released later that night after posting a $25,000 bond. She is scheduled to appear in Baxter County Circuit Court on Thursday, September 23.
Montgomery says additional people are expected to be charged with crimes related to the incident, including some persons currently incarcerated at the jail. Montgomery says the man on the outside of the fence has been identified and a warrant is in the process of being issued for his arrest. Additional information will be released once charges have been levied against additional participants.
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