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Last updated on Tuesday, June 26, 2012
(UNDATED) - The Greene County Prosecutor’s office has filed a Habitual Substance Offender Sentence Enhancement against a Worthington man who was arrested Tuesday on new charges.
Nick Schneider of the Greene County Daily World reports that Perry E. Shepard allegedly swallowed several balloons to smuggle marijuana, bath salts, and tobacco into the county jail.
24-year-old Shepard has been charged with possession of marijuana -- a class A misdemeanor; possession of marijuana with a prior conviction - a class D felony; possession of marijuana/hash oil/hashish/salvia/ synthetic cannabinoid - a class A misdemeanor; and possession of marijuana/hash oil/hashish/salvia/synthetic cannabinoid with a prior conviction - a class D felony.
He has been ordered held without bond in the county jail.
This new case started Feb. 29, the day he was being booked into the county jail as a Department of Correction inmate to start a sentence handed down Feb. 24 in Greene Superior Court of one year for possession of marijuana and one-year for possession of marijuana/hash oil/hashish over 30 grams with a prior conviction as part of a negotiated plea agreement.
According to a probable cause affidavit filed by Greene County Sheriff's Department Det. Sgt. George Dallaire, Shepard was interviewed on book-in because information had been received that he was going to bring controlled substances inside the jail during his incarceration.
Shepard denied the allegations and was later placed in B Block at the jail.
On March 7, jail officer Chuck Hendricks reported smelling smoke from B Block. While investigating the cellblock officers found a red and a blue balloon in Shepard's property.
Inside the blue balloon, authorities found a green colored plant-like material. In the red balloon was what appeared to be tobacco.
Dallaire stated in the probable cause affidavit that both confiscated balloons "smelled like sewage."
In an interview with Dallaire, Shepard admitted he had swallowed about a dozen balloons that contained marijuana, synthetic marijuana, tobacco and "possibly bath salts."
"Inmate Shepard said the marijuana was for his use and the tobacco was to barter with. Inmate Shepard said he could trade two cigarettes for a phone card in jail," Dallaire wrote in the probable cause affidavit.
The Greene County Jail is a tobacco-free facility.
Shepard stated to the detective that instead of charging him with smuggling in the contraband, he would work as a confidential informant inside the jail, Dallaire wrote in the affidavit.
On March 16, eight more colored balloons were found hidden inside a sock among Shepard's property that contained tobacco and green-leafy substances that tested positive as marijuana. One balloon contained an off-colored white substance that field tested negative as marijuana, but was forwarded on to the Indiana State Police Lab for analysis.
A lab report was returned to the county sheriff's office May 31 from ISP Forensic Scientist Kimberly D. Early that showed that the white substance was Methylenedioxpyrovalerone (MDVP and JWH-122) - commonly known as bath salts.
Bath salts are a controlled substance and classed as synthetic cannabinoid.
According to the probable cause, Shepard, who formerly lived in Linton, has at least three prior convictions for marijuana offenses in Greene County.
He has convictions for dealing marijuana (July 2009); possession of marijuana (January 2011); and possession of marijuana (January 2012).
The Habitual Substance Offender Sentence Enhancement was filed Thursday by Greene County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Cheryl Stone.
In some circumstances, when a person has been charged with a "substance offense" and that person has accumulated two prior unrelated "substance offense" convictions, the state can seek to have the person sentenced upon conviction as a Habitual Substance Offender.
A person found to be a Habitual Substance Offender can be sentenced upon conviction to an additional fixed term of no less than three years, but no more than eight years to be added to the sentence imposed for the underlying conviction.
Shepard has not made an initial court appearance on the new charges.
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