WARREN Deputy says he foiled try

The deputy said he saw the inmate grab something from behind a pillar outside the courthouse.
By PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- An inmate's alleged attempt to smuggle a marijuana cigarette into the Trumbull County jail was snuffed out by an alert deputy sheriff.
Deputy Raymond A. Deluga said he was stationed at the Trumbull County Courthouse security desk Tuesday morning when he saw two deputies taking three inmates from court back to the jail.
Deluga said as he was watching the group walk outside when one of the inmates, Tyrone J. Thomas, 27, of Warren, grabbed something from behind a pillar outside the courthouse door.
As Deluga followed them outside and watched the group walking he noticed the inmate who had reached toward the pillar walking with his left hand cupped "as if he were holding something," a sheriff's report states.
"I then observed the inmate put his hand under his shirt as if trying to slip something into the waist band of his pants," Deluga reported.
The deputy added that he then saw Thomas put something in his shirt pocket.
Deluga alerted jail officials, and when Thomas got to the jail, they escorted him to a changing room and found a rolled marijuana cigarette and a lighter folded up in a piece of paper.
"Deputy Deluga did a terrific job," said Sheriff Thomas Altiere. "He knew something didn't look right and he kept tabs on the situation."
Accomplice: A courthouse employee told officials that she saw a woman leave the courthouse and place a folded piece of paper on the ledge of the pillar moments before the inmates walked out.
The woman has not been arrested.
Thomas, being held on a robbery charge, is now facing a charge of conveyance of a controlled substance into a detention facility.
sinkovich@vindy.com