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BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. - Two Brevard County jail workers were arrested in connection to allegedly smuggling contraband into the jail.
The sheriff's office is currently investigating these two separate cases involving a corrections officer and a food worker at the jail.
A few days after these arrests, Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivy shared additional details, as he said, "Finding out everyone that was possibly involved was the most important component of the investigation."
‘Smuggling drugs to inmates’
What we know:
In an investigation involving a corrections deputy, which started on Jan. 23, four people were arrested, including the deputy and two inmates.
Brevard County Jail corrections officer, Chloe Deaton, 23, is facing several charges after she's accused of possessing and delivering controlled substances Suboxone – without a prescription – and methamphetamine and bringing the drugs into a jail complex. Deaton was also charged with possession of drug paraphernalia.
Deaton was terminated following her arrest, the sheriff's office confirmed.
The Brevard County Sheriff's office started its investigation into Deaton after receiving information that a female BCSO corrections officer was introducing drugs and contraband into the Brevard County Jail Complex, BCJC, and was providing these items to inmates, an arrest affidavit said.
A Brevard County corrections officer was arrested for allegedly introducing Suboxone strips to the jail.
On Jan. 18, an informant told the investigator they gave Deaton 60 Suboxone strips and a small amount of methamphetamine. Based on information from the informant, on Jan. 24, an investigator met Deaton at a meeting place in place of the informant.
Deaton admitted to accepting an item from the informant – which she knew to contain 60 strips of Suboxone, the investigator said – and said she introduced the strips into the jail complex through a trashcan. An inmate retrieved the strips, Deaton told the investigator.
3 additional arrests
The informant, who was later identified as Anuradha Dabhi, was arrested, Ivy said.
Ivy said Dabhi admitted to being part of the conspiracy to introduce drugs into the Brevard County Jail.
Anuradha Dabhi is facing six charges, including conspiracy to deliver Suboxone, conspiracy to deliver methamphetamine, conspiracy to possess Suboxone, conspiracy to possess methamphetamine, conspiracy to introduce a controlled substance into a detention facility and use of a two-way communication device to facilitate a felony.
"She was trying to obtain an unspecified amount of Suboxone to get it into the jail through an employee, who would then deliver it to an inmate," Ivy said.
Deaton was transferred to the Brevard County Jail, where she was originally held on a no-bond status, Ivy said.
During the investigation, Dabhi told deputies about a separate incident, on Jan. 18, involving two controlled substances that made it into the jail.
Those substances introduced into the jail were facilitated by Dabhi and Deaton. Following this information, two inmates were identified as the men who received the substances, Ivy said.
Charles McClellan and Alexander Munch were arrested and are facing the same charges as Dabhi.
"No one is above the law in Brevard County," Ivy said Jan. 30. " … The integrity of every investigation we do will always take precedent over everything else."
A sexual relationship with an inmate
What we know:
In its second investigation involving a jail worker's arrest, Ivy shared additional details about the arrest of Lisa Marie Sanders.
Sanders, 33, is accused of three counts of sexual misconduct with a Brevard County Jail inmate, of bringing tobacco products into the jail complex and using a two-way communication device with an imate. Sanders was arrested on Jan. 27.
The Brevard County Sheriff's office said Sanders, who was in a sexual relationship with an inmate, provided the inmate with three packs of tobacco cigarettes.
Sanders engaged in a sexual relationship with the inmate on three separate occasions, Ivy said. She worked in the kitchen where the inmate was assigned to work, he said.
A judge issued Sanders a $50,000 bond, Ivy said.
The Source: Information in this story was gathered from the Brevard County Sheriff's Office.