Trumbull jail to treat drug smuggling at jail seriously, official says

By Ed Runyan

runyan@vindy.com

WARREN

Two people were indicted Thursday on felony charges accusing them of conveying drugs into the Trumbull County Jail by use of a greeting card that contained a thin film of suboxone, a drug used for treatment of drug dependence.

Hargus D. Hall, 32, who is currently in the jail, and Priscilla M. Miller, 33, of Difford Drive in Niles, are charged with illegal conveyance of drugs of abuse onto a government facility.

If convicted, each could get up to three years in prison. They will be arraigned in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court on March 31.

Maj. Thomas Stewart of the Trumbull County Sheriff’s Office said the charges stem from allegations that Miller attempted to send Hall the drug in a greeting card in February at Hall’s direction while Hall was in the jail.

The drug can be purchased as a thin piece of film much like a breath freshener or teeth whitener, and it can be hidden in a greeting card so that corrections officers sometimes don’t notice it, Stewart said.

Two other people, Deanna L. Dukes, 33, of Ferndale Avenue Southwest, and Ashley Raznoff, 29, of Woodbine Avenue Southeast, were charged earlier with the same offenses for trying to bring drugs into the jail in October.

Both are awaiting trial on the charges.

Stewart said most of the time when this crime occurs, it is because a male has convinced his wife, girlfriend or ex-girlfriend that they can sneak a substance into the jail for him without getting in trouble.

That is not true, Stewart said, because corrections officers are able to detect the presence of suboxone in a greeting card, and inmates tell people lots of false stories in an effort to receive drugs.

Charges have not always been filed against the person trying to smuggle the drug into the jail, but “now, we’re going to start charging, because it leads to deaths,” Stewart said.

In the case of Dukes, an inmate convinced her that the corrections officer would knowingly allow the drug to pass through, but that wasn’t true, Stewart said.

“If you’re the person bringing the drugs in, you’re going to get charged. We’re going to stop it,” Stewart said.